Govt notifies fact checking unit days after Bombay HC refused to stay formation

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The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on March 20 notified the fact checking unit, days after Bombay High Court refused to stay the formation of the unit.

“Government hereby notifies the Fact Check Unit… in respect of any business of the Central Government,” a gazette notification of MeitY read.

On January 16, 2023, the ministry had said in a proposed amendment to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, that news identified as fake or false by the Press Information Bureau's fact check unit needs to be removed from social media platforms.

Also read: Ministry seeks to tweak IT rules, remove content PIB marks as 'fake news' on social media

The section 'Due Diligence by Intermediaries and Grievance Redressal Mechanism' of IT Rules, 2021, says that intermediaries "shall make reasonable" efforts to not "host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit" such information on platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube.

The intermediaries are required to do the due diligence for them to enjoy safe harbour provisions of the IT Act 2000, wherein intermediaries enjoy legal immunity from third party content they host.

This led to widespread discontent and a bunch of petitions were filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the amended IT Rules against fake news pertaining to the government on social media.

Responding to the criticism, the Centre said it was not against any kind of opinion, criticism, satire, or humour and that the Rules were to only proscribe or prohibit peddling of fake, false, and misleading facts on social media.

On January 31, the two-judge bench of Bombay High Court delivered a split verdict in a petition filed by political satirist Kunal Kamra challenging the government's amendment to the Information Technology Rules creating a fact-check unit for verifying news related to the government.

As per the existing convention, the case was then referred to a third judge by the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.

Thereafter, on March 13, the Bombay High Court refused to stay the constitution of the fact check unit to rein in misleading and fake social media posts on government businesses. Stating that rules empowers the government to establish a fact check unit and unilaterally declare online content related to the government's business on social media platforms as fake, false or misleading.

This implies that a social media intermediary has to either remove the information or be ready to defend its actions in court if need arises.

Also read: New IT rules: Let govt fact check unit perform and earn respect of social media platforms, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar