The Vernacular Press Act was passed by the British colonial government in India in 1878, under Viceroy Lytton. It was a highly repressive measure designed to curb the freedom of the Indian-language (vernacular) press. The Act was motivated by the British fear that nationalist newspapers, printed in languages like Marathi, Bengali, and others, were spreading seditious ideas and inciting rebellion. It gave the government extensive powers to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press. If a newspaper published anything deemed seditious, its press could be confiscated and the printers jailed. The Act was seen as discriminatory as it did not apply to the English-language press and was met with strong opposition from Indian nationalists.