The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has urged the government to withdraw the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, which were issued on April 6 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. According to the newly notified rules, the ministry will have the authority to establish a fact-checking unit with broad powers to determine what is ‘fake, false, or misleading’ with respect to any Central government business. This unit will also have the authority to direct intermediaries, such as social media platforms, Internet Service Providers, and other service providers, not to host such content and to remove it if it has already been published, it said. The Indian Newspaper Society is forced to state that this would result in the government or its designated agency having absolute power to determine what is fake or not in its own work and order it to be removed. It stated that such power is arbitrary because it is exercised without hearing the parties, and thus violates all principles of natural justice.
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