India: Indian Joint Parliamentary Committee adopts Report on Personal Data Protection Bill

On 16 December 2021, the Indian Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) tabled its report in both Houses of Parliament, two years after the bill was first referred to the JPC. The PDPB constitutes India's first comprehensive regulation of the use of individual data by the government and private companies. The key takeaways of the report with regard to content regulation are as follows: (1) social media platforms can - under certain circumstances - be treated as publishers and can be held accountable for the content they host; (2) these companies will have to set up an office in India; and (3) - contrary to the first draft - mandatorily have to ensure user-verification.