A group of 21 news publishers, including companies owned by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, has challenged India's privacy law in court, arguing it would trample investigative work and let New Delhi identify journalists' sources, documents show.

Prime minister Narendra Modi's government last year announced implementation of a privacy law to protect digital personal data of users, raising compliance requirements for platforms like Meta and Google.

The publishers have said that since media outlets were not exempt, the law was an invasion of press freedom.

A vendor sorts newspapers along a road in Chennai on 21 July 2026 (AFP/Getty)

Media companies received assurances in an August meeting with the government that the law would protect press freedom, but not having a written carve-out for journalists like in the European Union, Singapore and Britain was alarming,

India's Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) said in a confidential filing at the Supreme Court, reviewed by Reuters.

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