‘What is the point if the press has to ask for consent?’: News publishers tell SC that DPDP Act could create a pre-censorship regime

The Supreme Court of India has refused to stay the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act), 2023, without hearing the government’s side and has listed the matter for November 17, 2026. This was the first hearing of the Digital News Publishers Association’s (DNPA) challenge to the DPDP Act before the Supreme Court. Advocate Madhavi Divan, representing the DNPA, argued that certain provisions of the DPDP Act would enable a “complete regime of pre-censorship” if media organisations and jour