New IT Rules provide an evidence-based-fact-checking system for fake news, says Centre

“Majority of news-related information consumed on social media platforms in India is produced by common users who may not possess the capabilities, resources and time to verify the information before publishing.”

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology termed as “premature” political satirist Kunal Kamra’s plea challenging the constitutional validity of the Information Technology (IT) Amendment Rules, 2023 and said the Rules are in “public interest” and provide an evidence-based-fact-checking system for a mechanism to deal with fake or false or misleading information resulting in riots, mob lynching and other heinous crimes.

On April 10, Mr. Kamra through Internet Freedom Foundation filed a petition in the Bombay Hight Court against the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, calling them “arbitrary, violating fundamental rights of speech and expression and vague”. The next day, a Division Bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale directed the Ministry to file a response on April 21.

On Friday, the Ministry filed an affidavit stating that the Central government will only direct the removal of false or misleading information pertaining to government policies and programmes as false news travelled six times faster than truth. “With access to smartphones, cheap internet data and social media accounts, users can not only have information related to their personal experiences, activities, beliefs and opinions but also information related to various factual matters related to the functioning of the democratic governments, thereby adversely impacting democratic discourse. Majority of news-related information consumed on social media platforms in India is produced by common users who may not possess the capabilities, resources and time to verify the information before publishing. Because of which anti-social and anti-India organisations have been using this feature of social media to deliberately publish and amplify false information. It would be appropriate that such a mechanism should not be viewed as being in conflict with fundamental rights,” the affidavit read.

The new Rules have amended some rules in the 2021 IT Rules as a result of which social media intermediaries are directed to make “reasonable efforts” to protect their users — through rules, regulations and other policies — and not to “host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information” which is “identified as fake or false or misleading by a fact check unit of the Central government” in respect of “any business of the Central government”. In effect, the new Rules require social media intermediaries to censor or otherwise modify content that relates to the Central government, if a government-mandated fact checking body directs them to do so.