In a statement issued on 7 April, the Editor's Guild of India (EGI) — one of India's leading body of news editors dedicated to "protecting press freedom" in the country — has expressed concerns over the new IT Amendment Rules notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on 6 April.
"The government has given itself absolute power to determine what is fake or not, in respect of its own work, and order take down," the statement said.
What are the new IT Amendment Rules? As per the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, any news that has been deemed “fake” by the Press Information Bureau’s fact-checking unit will have to be taken down by all platforms, including social media platforms.
The amended rules will give powers to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to fact-check any 'fake, false or misleading' information about the central government. It can also ask social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to take down the content.
What happens if the intermediaries (social media platforms) refuse to comply? Minister for State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "Intermediaries who choose to keep that content will have to deal with the person who is aggrieved in a court of law. It is not mandatory that one has to take down what the notified organisation says, but then you have to deal with it in a court of law."
"IT Rules said that the government of India will notify an organisation and that organisation will be a fact checker of content related to the government for all intermediaries to fight misinformation," Chandrasekhar added.
Why is the Editor's Guild concerned? In a detailed statement, the guild argued that the notification does not mention the governing mechanism for the fact-checking unit.
"There is no mention of what will be the governing mechanism for such a fact-checking unit, the judicial oversight, the right to appeal, or adherence to the guidelines laid by the Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India case, with respect to take down of content or blocking of social media handles," the statement said.
It added that the ministry notified the amendment without meaningful consultation and the new amendments give sweeping powers to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) which has previously been criticised by media organisations across the country including the Guild.
What is the government saying? Speaking to news agency ANI, Union Minister Chandrasekhar denied allegation of censorship. "The dangers of misinformation and the impact of patently false information in a democracy like ours are never to be underestimated," he said.
Chandrasekhar mentioned that the rules notified on 6 April "do not" mention that the fact-checking agency flagging content will be PIB fact check.
"It is not censoring at all. The rules do not at all suggest that it's going to be PIB Fact Check. I think some of the grey area, or indeed the misapprehension, comes from the fact that the original draft of the rule that went for consultation talked about PIB Fact check. The rules that were notified yesterday do not mention PIB Fact Check. So we have yet to take a decision on whether it will be a new organisation that has trust and credibility associated with it, or do we take an old organisation and repurpose it to build trust and credibility in terms of a fact-checking mission," he said.
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