We are pleased to invite you to join us on 12. January 2026 for an insightful lecture delivered by our guest speaker, Dr. Anil Maurya, on "Evolving Content Moderation Landscapes and its Implications for Platform Liability in India and the EU".
The speaker:
Dr. Anil Maurya is an Associate Professor of Law at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), India, with over 10 years of teaching and research experience. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 2016 for his work on social media regulation in India and was a UGC Senior Research Fellow, which supported his doctoral programme. Since his doctoral research, Dr. Maurya has been actively engaged in the study of platform regulatory structures in India. His core research interests include cybercrime, platform regulation, and artificial intelligence. He has published several scholarly articles on various aspects of technology law in leading Indian journals and is a regular speaker on technology law at academic and policy forums across India. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Maurya served as a Judicial Assistant at the Allahabad High Court, India.
What the lecture is about:
This presentation examines the latest and most significant developments in how major online platforms — such as Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and Google — are increasingly required to moderate user-generated content within two major regulatory regimes: India and the European Union. While both jurisdictions are grounded in democratic constitutional values, their approaches to platform liability and content governance are evolving in notably different directions, particularly with respect to proactive and prescriptive moderation obligations. The emerging regulatory frameworks have reignited the over-regulation debate, especially regarding their potential chilling effects on freedom of expression, innovation, and business operations. A pivotal shift is underway from the traditional “notice-and-takedown” model toward a regime in which enhanced due-diligence obligations increasingly operate as de facto liability standards. A key focus of the presentation is a comparative analysis of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (as amended). The presentation further addresses the practical compliance challenges faced by platforms—such as balancing freedom of expression, automated moderation tools, voluntary industry standards, and the legal mandate to curb disinformation and harmful content.
The TeamID breakfast lecture will take place in SEM 64 at Juridicum on 12. January 2026, from 9:30 until 10:30. While the session is primarily intended for academic staff, it is not limited to participants from the Law Faculty and we encourage anyone interested to join us.
Registration:
Registration is mandatory, but free of charge. Please register here until the 10.01.2026.
We look forward to seeing many of you there!
