IT Ministry notifies body to flag ‘fake’ content about govt

Source: The post is based on the article “IT Ministry notifies body to flag ‘fake’ content about govt” published in Indian Express on 7th April 2023

What is the News?

The government of India has notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023.

What do the IT rules 2023 provide for?

The IT rules,2023 say that the Government will appoint a fact-checking body for online content. The body will flag “fake, false, or misleading” news about the government. 

Content marked as such by the body will have to be taken down by online intermediaries such as Facebook and Twitter.

If the online intermediaries fail to decide against taking action on content identified as “fake” or “false” by the Centre’s notified fact-checking unit, they will risk losing their safe harbour protections. This means that they can now be called as a party in court proceedings.

Note: Earlier, the Government had proposed that any piece of news that has been identified as “fake” by the fact-checking unit of the Press Information Bureau(PIB) will not be allowed on online intermediaries. However, the final draft has removed the reference to PIB.

What are the concerns against these rules?

The Editors Guild of India said that the determination of fake news cannot be in the sole hands of the government and will result in censorship of the press. 

The News Broadcasters & Digital Association said it will have a chilling effect on the media” and should be withdrawn.