‘YouTube, Instagram have become livelihoods & must be decided by law, not algorithms’: Raghav Chadha demands change in Copyright Act

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha on Thursday asked for key amendments to the Copyright Act of 1957 to safeguard the interests of digital content creators. He reasoned that their livelihoods should be determined by law and not by "arbitrary algorithms".

AAP MP speaks before the house

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, Chadha said that millions of Indians have become digital content creators, functioning as educators, reviewers, satirists, entertainers, musicians and influencers.

"Whether it is their YouTube channel or Instagram page, it is not a source of entertainment for them. In fact, it is their source of income, their asset. It is the fruit of their hard work," the AAP MP from Punjab said.

He explained that content creators face the risk of losing their channels even when they repurpose copyrighted content for just 2-3 seconds for commentary, criticism, parody, educational or news reporting purposes.

"His years of hard work ends in a few minutes. Sir, livelihoods must be decided by law and not by arbitrary algorithms," Chada said.

The AAP leader said that he was not against copyright holders and their rights need to be respected, but stressed that fair use should not be equated with piracy.

"Fair use, where sometimes the purpose of using this content is incidental or transformative, must not be tantamount to wiping out somebody's hard work," he added.

He further remarked that India's Copyright Act was enacted in 1957 when there was no internet, computers, digital content creators, YouTube or Instagram.

"This act lacks the very definition of digital creators. It talks about fair dealing, but it talks about fair dealing in the context of books, magazines, and journals," Chada said.

Today in Parliament, I spoke on Fair Use and Copyright Strikes on Digital Content.

Millions of Indians are now digital content creators. Their channels & pages are valuable assets built over years of hard work, which get taken-down by Copyright Strikes.

India’s Copyright Act,… pic.twitter.com/4eYGwkbTrJ

— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) December 18, 2025

Raghav Chadha asks for modifications in India's Copyright Act

The AAP MP made three important demands before the House.

First, the leader requested an amendment to the Copyright Act of 1957 to define digital fair use, including transformative uses such as commentary, satire, and critique, incidental use, proportionate use, educational use, public-interest use, and non-commercial use.

Second, he advocated for the introduction of the proportionality doctrine in copyright enforcement, arguing that if a video or sound is played in the background for a few seconds, it should not result in the complete removal of a creator's content.

Thirdly, he demanded a mandatory due process before content is taken down. 

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