The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently told the Bombay High Court that before amending the Information Technology (IT) Rules, it had considered the concerns regarding false and misleading information.
It said that the same can adversely impact electoral democracy and has potential to fan separatist movements and intensify social and political conflict, which would result in weakening public trust by creating doubts regarding actions and intentions of the democratically elected government.
Moreover, the Ministry clarified that the “Fact Checking Unit” under the amended IT Rules may only direct removal of false or misleading information pertaining to government policies and programmes, not satire or artist impression.
V Chinnasamy, a Scientist E in the MeiTY, filed an affidavit in reply to the plea by comedian Kunal Kamra, who has challenged the amendment to the Information Technology (IT) Rules that empowers the government to identify “fake news” about itself on social media platforms.
The Centre also said that the Rules could be amended as per Articles 19(2) and 19(6) of the Constitution.
On April 11, a division bench of Justice Gautam S Patel and Justice Neela K Gokhale had asked MEiTY to respond to the plea. While the matter was to be heard on Friday, due to unavailability of the bench, the same is likely to be heard on Monday.
On April 6, the MEiTY promulgated the 2023 Rules, which further amended the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and allowed the ministry to appoint the fact-checking unit.
Story continues below this ad
The online content marked by the fact-checking body as “fake or misleading” will have to be taken down by online intermediaries if they wish to retain their “safe harbour”, which is the legal immunity they enjoy against third party content.
Kamra has challenged Rule 3(1)(II)(A) and (C) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023. Through senior advocate Navroz Seervai, Kamra stated the said Rule in effect would amend Rules 3(1)(a) and 3(1)(b)(v) of the IT Rules, 2021 and the same violated several past Supreme Court judgments.
However, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing the Centre, had submitted that there will be a separate notification regarding the ‘Fact Checking Unit’. As per the affidavit, the unit is not notified till date, therefore the Ministry called Kamra’s plea premature and said there was no potential of alleged irreparable injury to the petitioner.
The affidavit stated, “False and misleading information can adversely impact electoral democracy, the economy and the social fabric in many ways, with severe and lasting damage. It has the potential to fan separatist movements and intensify social and political conflict, while also weakening public trust in democratic institutions. In matters of public interest, misleading content on social media platforms influences citizens’ perceptions regarding reality and creates doubts regarding the actions and intentions of the democratically elected government.”
Story continues below this ad
The Ministry also said that there is a need to disseminate authentic information by the government agency and it is important to “recognise that there is a significant likelihood of speculation, misconception and spread of incomplete or one-sided information in social media” related to government decisions.
Elaborating on the role of the fact check unit, the Ministry said, “Role of the fact check unit is restricted to any business of the Central Government, which may include information about policies, programmes, notifications, rules, regulations, implementation thereof, etc. The fact check unit may only identify fake or false or misleading information and not any opinion, satire or artistic impression.”
Moreover, the government emphasised the need of a government initiated fact checking unit in the era of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine language where morphed images, motivated stories and unverified information can be prepared and spread easily across the world making the content viral.
To support its move, the Ministry also referred to fake information that led to destruction of public property during protests during the implementation of the Agnipath Scheme for recruitment in Indian Armed Forces and also mentioned fake information on YouTube claiming the President of India approving the ban on use of electronic voting machines (EVM).
Story continues below this ad
The government also said that grievance redressal mechanism is provided under the Rules to approach the authority against adverse action. The Ministry said the Rules are in “public interest” providing mechanism to deal with fake and misleading information related to riots, mob lynchings and other heinous crimes against women and children.
5 min read
