On April 6, the Indian government issued a notification that requires intermediaries, including social media intermediaries to not publish, share, or host fake, false, or misleading information regarding any Central government business. The government’s fact-checking unit will determine what information is fake, false, or misleading. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s gazette notification modifying the Information Technology rules, 2021, was released on the same day. Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, stated that an organization, which the government notifies through Meity, will be the fact-checker for all online content related to the government. If internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter fail to remove content identified by the government-notified fact-checker as false or misleading information, they may lose their protection.
The minister said that they will define what the organization will look like and whether PIB fact check will be the fact-checker, as well as what the dos and don’ts will be. PIB needs to be notified to be a fact-checker under the IT rules. However, the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights group, stated that the notification of these amended rules would ‘cement the chilling effect on the fundamental right to speech and expression’, particularly on news publishers, journalists, activists, and others. The fact-check unit could issue a takedown order to social media platforms and even other intermediaries across the internet stack, potentially bypassing the process statutorily prescribed under the Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000. Additionally, the undefined terms ‘fake,’ ‘false,’ and ‘misleading’ make such over-broad powers susceptible to misuse.
Opposition parties have raised concerns over the IT Rules’ draft amendments, terming them ‘highly arbitrary and unilateral.’ Congress spokesperson and chairperson of social media and digital platforms, Supriya Shrinate, stated that this move is nothing but silencing the internet, digital media platforms, and social media platforms, which are the only last bastions standing and still asking questions of the government. The Wire, the Leaflet, and other media organizations have challenged the constitutionality of the IT Rules, 2021, and the Bombay high court has stayed the provision of those sections directly applicable to digital news sites.
However, the new rules apply to social media intermediaries like Twitter, who will come under pressure to delete or block content that the government will unilaterally declare as fake or misleading, terms which are not defined by statute. Twitter has also challenged the vires of IT Rules before the Karnataka high court, but there is no stay on the provisions which apply to intermediaries. The Modi government has sought the transfer of all challenges to the IT Rules to a single bench of the Supreme Court, but hearings on this plea have not yet commenced.
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