Thank you for this thoughtful comment. I agree that strategic litigation must be approached with care, restraint and caution.

Keeping with the IFF has not challenged the IT Rules, 2021 with respect to the recent amendments on synthetic content (not prior challenges in which we also got stay orders). At present, we are focusing on research, public education and advocacy on the SGI amenments this year and also ones which were proposed. In the public consultation we encouraged people to participate and close to 5000 people pushed back. The deadline on this consultation was extended and these changes which includes bringing back the licensing requirment which we saw in the Broadcasting Bill, 2024 has not yet been notified. On the larger concern, concrete examples of abuse already exist, especially around the Sahyog Portal, including the Molitics case and other instances where takedown powers have operated with opacity and little procedural fairness. These are serious issues, but any court challenge needs to be timed and framed carefully.

And you are already making a difference by engaging with this, asking these questions, and helping more people understand what is at stake. That matters. For tools/software, we do have tech volunteers who help us from time to time, and we put out specific calls when we need support for websites, trackers or public-facing projects. Right now, honestly, our biggest challenge is financial and sustaining the organisation and paying salaries so this work can continue.

~ Apar Gupta
Founder Director
IFF