Speaking at the Digital News Publishers Conclave 2026, Vaishnaw highlighted how the internet has now become a prominent source of media consumption for users
He asserted that original content must be well-respected and that creators must be fairly compensated to ensure continued innovation
This comes at a time when Centre is working on giving a clear distinction between original and AI-generated content on social media
Amid the ongoing shift in content consumption patterns in India, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has urged social media platforms to distribute revenue more “fairly” with content creators.
Speaking at the Digital News Publishers Conclave 2026, Vaishnaw highlighted how the internet has now become a prominent source of media consumption for users.
“Platforms must share revenue in a fair way with the people who are creating the content, whether its news personalities, conventional media, large influencer, small influencers, among others — everywhere the principle should set right,” Vaishnaw added.
The minister underlined that society and civilization are built upon the intellectual property (IP) created by people, and that the growth of science, technology, arts and literature depends on it.
He asserted that original content must be well-respected and that creators must be fairly compensated to ensure continued innovation. If IP is not respected and creators are not compensated fairly, the progress of society will be “stunted” and “derailed”.
“I request all the platforms to rethink their revenue sharing policies because that is one of the major concerns right now,” he added.
Vaishnaw also said that if the revaluation is not done voluntarily, there are several countries who have taken the legal route — hinting towards a potential intervention from the Central government.
Comparing the accountability of such platforms with conventional media, Vaishnaw said that platforms should also take responsibility for what they are publishing.
“The times have gone when platforms could say that they are not responsible for the country because the platforms have changed from being just a medium to becoming hosts to the world. The fundamental is that if a user has a grievance or if they have a potential harm, what is the mechanism that the platforms have done to protect the users,” he added
This comes at a time when Centre is working on giving a clear distinction between original and AI-generated content on social media.
As a part of the recent amendments in the Information Technology Rules, 2021, the Centre has introduced a definition of “synthetically generated information”which covers audio, visual or audio-visual content that is modified or altered using computer resources in a manner that appears real or authentic and is likely to be perceived as indistinguishable from a natural person or real-world event.
Platforms will now have to clearly label AI-generated content and ensure users can easily identify it as “synthetically generated”. This was done to secure users, especially children.
Apart from the security lens, the Centre is also mulling to push the country’s “orange economy”. During the recent Budget speech for 2026-27, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the launch of Indian Institute of Creative Technologies to set up AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming and comics) and content creator labs across 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges across the country.
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