Govt should address grievances, not suppress criticism: Kejriwal on IT Rules

AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday accused the Centre of tightening IT Rules to suppress criticism instead of addressing public grievances. His remarks came after amendments reduced the takedown period for sensitive online content to two hours from the earlier 24 hours

New Delhi: AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday alleged that the Centre has tightened the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021, to suppress criticism instead of resolving people’s grievances. In a video statement posted on X, Kejriwal said governments should focus on governance rather than trying to control public discourse. There was no immediate response from the government or the ruling BJP on Kejriwal’s allegations.

The Centre on Thursday announced amendments to the IT Rules, 2021, slashing the time for social media platforms to take down online content on sensitive matters to 2 hours from the earlier 24 hours.

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According to an official statement, amendments were made to rules on February 10, 2026, to strengthen the regulatory framework to address harms arising from synthetically generated information (SGI), including deepfakes and AI-generated content.

Referring to the recent Cockroach Janta Party-led protest at Jantar Mantar, Kejriwal alleged that the government is attempting to suppress public voices instead of responding to people’s grievances.
Criticism cannot be silenced through such measures, he said. The former Delhi chief minister said governments should focus on governance rather than trying to control public discourse. People will support those who do good work, he said.

Kejriwal further claimed that attempts to suppress criticism will only increase public resentment.IT Rules mandate that significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs), platforms with a user base of over 50 lakh in India, to take reasonable efforts to deploy appropriate technical measures, including automated tools or other suitable mechanisms, to proactively identify information that depicts any act or simulation in any form depicting rape, child sexual abuse or conduct or any information which is similar in content to information that has previously been removed.