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Journalism of Courage
Amid a surge in instances of fake news online, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology is likely to recommend that the government implement stricter fines and penalties if algorithms deployed by social media platforms abet the spread of misinformation, The Indian Express has learnt.
The Committee is also expected to direct the government to come out with “concrete” solutions on issues surrounding safe harbour, the provision which affords legal immunity to platforms from user generated content. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had last year said that the safe harbour provision under the Information Technology Act, 2000, needs a revisit.
Following a review of current mechanisms to deal with fake news, the Committee — headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey — is in favour of asking the government to set up a dedicated inter-ministerial task force to deal with issues of cross-border misinformation. The task force, in its view, should have officials from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and legal experts in the field.
A draft report is learnt to have been prepared after the Committee held a series of consultations with several stakeholders, such as the MIB, media companies (including The Indian Express), and news industry associations. The Committee could note that while social media has contributed towards citizen empowerment and responsive governance, it is also being misused by certain anti-social and anti-India actors for spreading rumours, fake news and false narratives.
During the consultations, stakeholders had raised concerns around the fact that the revenue model of social media platforms is such that sensational and potentially fake content gets more traction and their algorithms further amplify such content. The MIB, for instance, is understood to have informed the Committee that algorithms used by social media platforms significantly influence how the information spreads online, and since sensational and emotionally charged content tends to attract higher engagement, social media platforms often prioritise such content, which sometimes are fake or misleading.
On content generated through artificial intelligence (AI), and if it should be mandatory to label such content, the MIB is learnt to have told the Committee that the option can be explored, but the practicality of the move should be determined after consultation with stakeholders.
According to the Ministry, there was an urgent need for a legal definition of fake news and incorporating it in existing regulatory mechanisms for print, electronic and digital media, along with appropriate deterrent measures for such circulation of fake news. There was wide consensus among other stakeholders that a legal definition of fake news is needed, it is understood.
The feasibility of using AI tools in detecting misleading information was also discussed, but the MIB is learnt to have said that while AI could be used to flag potentially fake news, it should undergo human review. Despite their potential, automated systems face several challenges, the Ministry pointed out. AI detection tools often struggle with hybrid content that blends real and false information, or with material in low-resource regional languages that lack sufficient training data, it is learnt to have said.
The issue of the government’s fact check unit (FCU) under the Press Information Bureau, it is learnt, also came up during consultations. In 2024, the Bombay High Court had struck down the IT Ministry’s attempt at notifying the PIB’s FCU as a statutory body to fact check government related information in the media, calling it “unconstitutional”. According to the MIB, the MeitY was in the process of filing a special leave petition against the High Court’s judgement in the Supreme Court.
