The Bombay High Court will today deliver its verdict on pleas by stand-up comic Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild of India seeking to strike down IT Amendment Rules, 2023 which empowers the Central government to establish a fact check unit (FCU). A third judge of the high court is scheduled to deliver the verdict.
The case had gone to a third judge after the division bench of Bombay High Court in January delivered a split verdict in the matter.
The Centre on March 20 had notified the fact check unit under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to monitor online content pertaining to the government for accuracy. The fact check unit was notified under IT Rules of 2021 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
However, a day later, the Supreme Court paused the notification, setting aside the Bombay High Court’s go-ahead to the government’s move. A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said the matter concerns freedom of expression. The court, however, did not comment on the merits of the case.
Under the rules, if this unit comes across or is informed about any posts that are fake, false, and contain misleading facts about the business of the government, it would flag them to social media intermediaries. Once such a post is flagged, the intermediary has the option of taking it down or putting a disclaimer. In taking the second option, the intermediary risks legal action.
The petitioners had expressed concerns about censorship and said the new rules would restrict users from expressing themselves freely on social media. They had said the social media intermediaries would readily remove posts flagged by the government’s Fact Check Unit to avoid legal troubles.
Mr Kamra also challenged the new IT rules for violating his right to work as a political satirist and expressed fear of losing his social media access if his content is flagged by the Fact Check Unit. The rules will allow the government to flag any content critical of its policies, he said.
The Centre responded that the rules were issued in the public interest to crack down on fake news. It also said the fact-check will be based on evidence and such decisions can be challenged in court.
The Centre also said political opinions, satire and comedy are not linked to government business; the petitioners have argued that ‘business of the Central Government’ is a “vague” area.
