The high growth rate of both Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms and social media in India has reshaped the digital communication sector and a powerful regulatory mechanism is required in order to deal with the new challenges. The paper gives a critical analysis of the legislations and regulations that regulate these platforms, especially focusing on the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The research of a descriptive and analytical research design relies on primary data, obtained along with 120 respondents, and the secondary data is provided through legal texts and other academic works. The results indicate that there is moderate knowledge on current regulations and ambivalent opinion about their effectiveness. Although the respondents do not reject the responsibility of regulations in promoting accountability, the pressing issue still exist as far as the influence of the regulations on the freedom of expression is concerned. The main challenges that have been observed are misinformation, privacy, lack of enforcement, and jurisdiction. The research concludes that whereas existing laws offer a framework of reference, there is an urgent necessity to have a more harmonious, transparent, and complete solution by reinforcing constitutional rights and protecting the online accountability
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