Vaishnaw hints at legal action if digital platforms don’t rethink payouts to news publishers

New Delhi: At the Digital News Publishers Association conclave 2026, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asked digital platforms to voluntarily rethink their revenue sharing models with news publishers and content creators, warning that countries across the world have already shown that the issue can be addressed through law if needed.

Urging platforms to course correct on their own, Vaishnaw said, “I will request all the platforms to rethink your revenue-sharing policies. Because that is also one of the major concerns that the entire society today is raising.”

The warning that followed was direct.

“And if this is not done voluntarily. Then there are so many countries that have shown the path to get it done in a legal way.”

While the minister did not refer to specific jurisdictions, his remarks echo global moves where governments have introduced frameworks to mandate negotiations and compensation between digital platforms and news publishers.

“The platforms must also share revenue in a fair way with the people who are creating the content, whether it is news persons, the conventional media, or the creators sitting in partner areas. Large influencers, small influencers. The professors and researchers who are disseminating their work using the platforms", he added.

Linking compensation directly to the long arc of social progress, the minister underlined the role of intellectual property in shaping civilisation.

“The society grew on the basis of that intellectual property. And if that intellectual property is not well respected and not fairly compensated. Then the growth of society, the growth of science, the growth of technology, the growth of arts, and the growth of literature. That will all get stunted, and the human growth which has happened over the past thousands of years. Will get derailed, will get muted, will get stunted.”

He stressed that incentives for original work must be protected.

“That incentive for creating the original work and getting that fair compensation and the fair appreciation from sections of the society. Must be respected, must be valued.”

Beyond revenue, Vaishnaw situated the debate within a larger crisis of trust facing media and digital ecosystems.

“The entire human society is built upon trust in institutions,” he said, noting that institutions such as the media, judiciary and legislature were created on the “fundamental premise, the premise of trust". He warned that this trust is now under strain due to deepfakes, synthetically generated content and misinformation.

“The way the world is emerging today, that core tenet of trust is under threat,” he said. Calling out the growing menace of manipulated media, Vaishnaw said, "Deepfakes can make you believe things that have never happened in your life. Disinformation barriers, which can cause that sense of distrust that doesn’t exist in real life.” 

He added that synthetically generated images and videos that have “absolutely no correlation with reality” are creating confusion at scale. “The common citizen starts questioning the very basic structure of the society. That’s something which is a big threat.” 

As platforms evolve from neutral intermediaries to powerful media outlets, he argued that they must accept greater responsibility.

“The times are gone when a platform could say that they are not responsible for the content. Those times are gone. The platforms must take responsibility for what they are publishing.”