The government shouldn’t be running a fact-check unit

Source: The post is based on the article “The government shouldn’t be running a fact-check unit” published in the Livemint on 25th April 2023.

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

Relevance: About amendments to IT Rules.

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

What are the salient provisions of the IT amendment rules?

What are the concerns associated with amendments to IT Rules?

State’s rejection of ground reality: A private survey has shown that the health department’s management information system (MIS) missed more than 75% of infant deaths in Maharashtra. This survey led to the formation of the Abhay Bang committee which proposed recommendations for proper measuring. Later, Maharashtra became the first state to launch a child nutrition mission in 2005. The State’s model of using community health workers to monitor and treat newborns was eventually scaled up across rural India.

If Maharashtra had a state-run fact-check unit, then the government will dismiss the private report as false. This will diminish the progress of society.

Restrict public access to data: Since only government officials have access to certain kinds of government data, the government data might be inaccessible to the public. For instance, analysts prefer to use the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data rather than Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) data. This is because the anonymized respondent-level PLFS data is publicly available, unlike the EPFO database.

What are the advantages of amendment to IT Rules?

At a time when India is trying to emerge as a viable and democratic alternative to China, India need to reconsider the amendments.