Express View on IT Rules amendments: Government sets itself up as judge, jury and executioner

Source: The post is based on the following articles

“Express View on IT Rules amendments: Government sets itself up as judge, jury and executioner” published in the Indian Express on 8th April 2023.

“What’s ‘Misleading’? – Why GoI fact-checking unit can become problematic” published in The Times of India on 8th April 2023.

Syllabus: GS – 3: role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges.

Relevance: About amendments to IT Rules.

News: The government recently notified amendments to Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules.

About the amendments to IT Rules

What are the concerns associated with amendments to IT Rules?

Censorship of the press: Media is already regulated by laws, including defamation. Therefore, legal boundaries for the media exist.

But the new amendments provide unbridled and unchecked powers to the government for deciding what can be published and what cannot. This undermines media freedom further. 

Short-circuits Court judgements: The amendments short-circuit a) The procedures, safeguards and conditions laid out in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India or under Section 69A of the IT Act, b) Madras High Court ruling in T M Krishna v. Union of India and the Bombay High Court ruling in Agij Promotion of Nineteen One Media Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. v. Union of India put a hold on the rules which provided the government with a wider say on content on OTT or digital media platforms.

Issues in regulating intermediaries: Intermediaries are one of the gateways to accessing work by the media. Therefore, any arbitrary restrictions on them may affect public access to news.

Not clearly defined: The amendments are not clear on terms such as “misleading”. For example, the facts of a media report can be beyond reproach. However, if the fact-checking unit finds the narrative ‘problematic’, the intermediary can be ordered to take it down as it’s “misleading”

Conflict of interest: The role played by the fact-checking unit has a significant conflict of interest as it plays the role of judge, jury and executioner.

High chance of misuse: The government applied the laws with weaponising trends to curb opposition and dissent. Hence, the present amendment might lead to the same.

What should be done?

The government should think over the consequences if states use grey areas in the law to regulate media. The government has to follow the recent SC judgment ensuring Freedom of Press and should allow media to work without hindrance, as it is essential for democracy.