21 Indian Publishers Challenge Privacy Law in Supreme Court Over Press Freedom

A group of 21 news publishers in India has challenged the country's privacy law in the Supreme Court, arguing that it would trample investigative work and let New Delhi identify journalists' sources. Reuters reported the October 6 lawsuit for the first time on Monday, October 26, 2026, after reviewing the filing.

The case is the most high-profile challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's privacy law so far. Until now, only free speech activists and a group of smaller news outlets had challenged it, Reuters said.

Who brought the case

The publishers acted through the Digital News Publishers Association, known as the DNPA. Its members include Network18, owned by Mukesh Ambani, which has seven digital news platforms, and NDTV, owned by Gautam Adani. The Indian Express and Times Internet, part of the Times of India group, are also among the members named in the reporting.

The DNPA filed a 698-page petition on October 6, 2026. The publishers demand that most of the law's contentious provisions, which kick in from May 2027, should be quashed. The case is due to be heard on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

Modi's government last year announced implementation of a privacy law to protect the digital personal data of users. The law raised compliance requirements for platforms like Meta and Google, and media outlets were not exempt.

Consent, erasure and sources

The publishers argue that the law could force a journalist to get prior consent from a person they want to investigate, and force publishers to erase stories. They also argue that powers to demand information could expose reporters' sources.

In its filing, the DNPA said the provisions would "render investigative journalism a benign and neutered recorder of events" and "constitute pre-censorship which is anathema to any democracy worth its name", as quoted by Reuters. On the consent point, the filing said requiring a journalist to notify an investigation subject "would allow that subject to destroy evidence, intimidate witnesses", in the words quoted by Reuters.

Assurances without a written carve-out

Media companies received assurances in an August meeting with the government that the law would protect press freedom. The DNPA said in its Supreme Court filing that the lack of a written carve-out for journalists, like the ones in the European Union, Singapore and Britain, was alarming.

In an August letter to the government, attached to the lawsuit and quoted by Reuters, the DNPA said India "has chosen to grant broad exemptions to the state, while failing to extend any corresponding protection to the press".

Press freedom context and the response

India's ranking in the World Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders fell to 157th out of 180 countries this year, from 140th in 2014. The government rejects the rankings, and Modi's government says it respects press freedom, Reuters said.

The DNPA and the media groups did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters, and neither did India's information technology ministry.

The hearing on Tuesday will be the first test of the publishers' argument in court. The provisions they seek to quash are not due to take effect until May 2027, but the publishers have asked the Supreme Court to strike most of them down before they do.