Indian Journalists Union opposes move to empower PIB to act on ‘fake news’, seeks intervention of MPs
The IJU said that amending the IT rules to authorise PIB to scrutinise news and remove it from online platforms would amount to censorship ‘akin to what was imposed during the Emergency’.
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According to the ministry’s draft proposal, any piece of news that has been identified as ‘fake’ by the fact-checking unit of the PIB will not be allowed on online intermediaries, including social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. (Representational) Opposing a draft proposal of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) giving powers to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to direct online platforms to take down news identified as ‘fake’, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has sought the intervention of MPs across party lines to ensure its withdrawal.
In an open letter to the MPs, the IJU has appealed to the lawmakers “to lend their voice to the efforts to safeguard the most important fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution—the right to freedom of expression”. The journalists’ body has also demanded the formation of an independent body – on the lines of the Press Council of India – for regulation of online content.
According to the ministry’s draft proposal, any piece of news that has been identified as ‘fake’ by the fact-checking unit of the PIB – the Centre’s nodal agency to share news updates – will not be allowed on online intermediaries, including social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The proposal has sparked fears that anything that contradicts the government could potentially become a ground for taking down content.
In a statement, IJU president K Sreenivas Reddy and secretary-general Balwinder Singh Jammu said, “IJU is of the firm opinion that amending the IT rules to authorise PIB or any other official agency to scrutinize news and remove them from the online social media platforms would amount to censorship akin to what was imposed during the Emergency days of 1975-77.”
“We admit that online platforms carry a lot of information that can be called fake, false and misleading, uploaded deliberately with ulterior motives and also inadvertently. We also agree that there is a felt need for regulation of online content. But, this situation can’t be taken advantage of to impose government censorship on online platforms which provide the required space for free flow of information,” the statement added.
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