The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Centre's response to a plea by news publishers challenging India’s data protection law. The Digital News Publishers Association said the law lacks exemptions for journalism. "Newsrooms will shut down if we have to ask for permission," said senior counsel Madhavi Goradia Divan.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the government's response to a plea by news publishers challenging provisions of India's data protection law, which they say could restrict investigative journalism, expose confidential sources and force reporters to seek consent from people they investigate.
The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), which represents news organisations, has challenged provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, arguing that it lacks an adequate exemption for journalism. It says consent requirements could make it hard to investigate individuals without alerting them in advance. Provisions allowing people to seek deletion of their personal data could also affect published reports and digital archives, it adds, while the government's powers to demand information could expose confidential sources.
"We have raised the argument concerning exemptions as well. Otherwise, newsrooms will shut down if we have to ask for permission,'' senior counsel Madhavi Goradia Divan told the three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India. "We have to ask your permission if we report on you. How can that ever be? What is news otherwise?"
The challenge comes as the government implements the privacy law, which regulates the processing of digital personal data and imposes compliance requirements on organisations handling such information, including technology platforms such as Meta and Google. The publishers argue that the absence of a specific exemption for journalism threatens press freedom.
The government notified the DPDP Rules on 14 November 2025, setting out a phased implementation of the law. While some provisions took effect in November 2025, most substantive obligations are scheduled to come into force on 14 May 2027.
An email query sent by Mint to the DNPA and the ministry of information and broadcasting had not received a response by press time.
Divan said the law could leave journalists dependent on individuals' consent to report on them, potentially undermining investigations and the functioning of newsrooms.
The petition is among the most prominent challenges to the data protection law by major media organisations. Media companies had also received assurances from the government at a meeting in August that the law would protect press freedom, Reuters reported.
Divan urged the court to consider the publishers' application for an interim stay, arguing that the law could affect how journalists gather and report news. "This is perhaps the first comprehensive petition by what we call legacy media. There has been some debate over citizen journalists. We are the traditional, conventional legacy media," she said.
The bench declined to grant interim relief, saying the other side must be heard before a stay could be considered. It issued notice to the Union government seeking its response. The matter will next be heard on 17 November.
Why publishers have challenged the law
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act was enacted on 11 August 2023 to regulate how organisations collect, use, store and process individuals' digital personal data. It establishes requirements relating to consent, data security and individuals' rights over their information.
The DNPA has sought the quashing of the challenged provisions, arguing that the law could undermine press freedom and compromise the confidentiality of journalistic sources.
The association includes news organisations such as HT Media, which publishes Mint and Hindustan Times, Network18, NDTV, The Times of India group, Dainik Bhaskar and India Today group, among others.