Nishikant Dubey, Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT, took to the social media platform X to urge the platform to either shut down the “Community Notes” feature or comply with tax obligations as a publisher in India. He mentioned that this unanimous opinion has been communicated to the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).
In a comparison with Australia, the four-time MP from Jharkhand tweeted, “Why the uproar over Community Notes? X Corp prints money without paying taxes to the Indian government—how is that fair? Like the law in Australia, they should secure a publisher’s licence in India and remit ₹25,000 crore in taxes each year; otherwise, they should disable Community Notes. X contributes ₹7,000 crore in taxes to the Australian government annually.”
Community Notes is a feature on X that allows users to crowdsource fact-checking by adding notes to potentially misleading or inaccurate posts. These notes appear below the original post once users rate them as “Helpful.”
Interestingly, Nishikant Dubey posted a screenshot of a note outlining the Australian legal stance on sexual abuse and homicide trial proceedings.
The screenshot elaborates on the role of “witness intermediaries,” trained professionals who help witnesses understand questions and provide clear responses during legal proceedings.
Nishikant Dubey’s post has, impressively, received its own Community Note. The note states, “They are incorrectly citing Australian law. The Australian law was designed to ensure news publishers receive compensation from digital platforms for using their news content. This regulation is specific to news content and does not apply to user-generated fact-checking features like X Community Notes.”
The Internet Freedom Foundation commented, stating, “The Treasury Laws Amendment Act, 2021 in Australia mandates designated digital platforms to enter into agreements with registered Australian news entities for the right to showcase news content through feeds and search results.
No Australian law categorizes a ‘Community Notes’-type feature as transforming a platform into a ‘publisher’ subject to any tax or levy.”
Recently, Community Notes on X gained attention when UP CM Yogi Adityanath announced a ₹25,000 crore MoU with Puch AI to create AI parks, extensive data centers, and an AI university.
A Community Note on the CM’s announcement highlighted, “Puch AI is a year-old startup generating less than ₹50 lakh/year. They lack the capability to fulfill an MoU of this magnitude.” Just four days later, the UP government rescinded the MoU.
Also Read: BJP’s Nishikant Dubey apologizes unconditionally for remarks on ex-Odisha CM Biju Patnaik
