Amid an ongoing debate on freedom of media, the Law Commission has floated a consultation paper to help it recommend an approach to be adopted in tackling issues like opinion polls, paid news, media regulation and use of social media.
The law panel said though the country has every reason to celebrate its news media, as society evolves, new challenges are constantly thrown up that require consideration.
"Technology has expanded our horizons, but also brought with it new concerns. Recent events related to the news media, such as the proliferation and subsequent curbing of social media, the paid news phenomenon, fake sting operations, trial by media, breach of privacy pose a set of anxieties," it said.
Referring to social media and the use of section 66A of the Information Technology Act, the paper said the ability to disseminate information seamlessly over social media has resulted in a rising need to regulate the content of such information.
Section 66A of the Information Technology Act makes it a punishable offence to send messages that are offensive or false or created for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience.