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The Cinematograph Act, 1952 was amended by the Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023 to introduce provisions curbing unauthorised recording and exhibition of films.
The newly inserted Section 7(1B)(ii) empowers the Government to act against intermediaries hosting pirated content, using Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act allows appropriate Governments to notify intermediaries to remove or disable access to unlawful content.
Under the IT Rules, 2021, intermediaries must remove content violating any law once brought to their knowledge by a court order or a government notice.
The Joint Secretary (Films) in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been authorised to issue content takedown notices.
Piracy is committed by two different actors, and until 2023 Indian law reached only one of them cleanly. The Cinematograph Act governs films - certification, exhibition, and now the unauthorised recording of a film in a cinema, which is where most pirated copies originate. But once a copy exists online, the person who uploaded it is often untraceable, and the entity that actually matters is the platform hosting or transmitting it. That platform is an intermediary governed by the Information Technology Act, not by film law. The 2023 amendment bridges the two: Section 7(1B)(ii) of the Cinematograph Act reaches across to Section 79(3) of the IT Act, so a piracy determination under film law becomes the trigger for a takedown obligation under intermediary law. Section 79 is the safe harbour provision - an intermediary is not liable for user content provided it observes due diligence - and Section 79(3)(b) is the exception that removes that protection once the intermediary has been notified and fails to act. Designating a specific officer, the Joint Secretary (Films), to issue those notices matters practically, because the obligation only bites when the notice comes from an authorised source; an unauthorised complaint imposes no legal duty on the platform.
Simple Analogy: One law names the offence, the other reaches the pipe carrying it - the amendment connects them.
GS Paper 2 > Statutory Framework; GS Paper 3 > IT Regulation and IPR
General Awareness > Important Acts
General Awareness > Current Affairs
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IT Act intermediary provisions appear frequently in UPSC and SSC polity and technology questions.
Amended the Cinematograph Act, 1952 to introduce provisions against unauthorised recording and exhibition of films.
The newly inserted provision enabling action against intermediaries hosting pirated content, via Section 79(3) of the IT Act.
The safe harbour provision exempting intermediaries from liability for third-party content, subject to due diligence.
Provides for notification to intermediaries to remove or disable access to unlawful content.
An entity that receives, stores or transmits electronic records on another's behalf - the category to which safe harbour applies.