- On March 20, 2024, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(“MeitY”) had notified the Fack Check Unit (“FCU”) of the Press Information Bureau (“PIB”) as the fact check unit of the Central Government.
- This notification was made in accordance with the provisions of sub-clause(v) of sub-rule (1) of rule (3) of the Information and Technology(Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021,(“Digital Media Rules”) and was another step taken in a series of moves bythe Central Government to address the challenges posed by fake newsregularly circulated on social media.
- The Digital Media Rules had been amended in April 2023 by the CentralGovernment to place an obligation on intermediaries to disallow any falseinformation about the Indian government, if the same has been confirmedto be false by a fact checking unit of the Central Government.
- Subsequently, this amendment was challenged in the Bombay HC byseveral stakeholders including the Editors Guild of India, News Broadcastersand Digital Association of Indian Magazines, alleging the amended DigitalMedia Rules and setting up of the central fact checking unit being violativeof the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. The petitioners hadsought the interim relief of a stay on the appointment of a fact checkingunit by the Central Government. The Bombay HC had, however, rejected theinterim relief of stay on March 13, 2024.
- Pursuant to this, the Central Government notified the PIB FCU as the factchecking unit of the Central Government, giving the unit wide powers todetermine whether any online information relating to the CentralGovernment is true and accurate, as well as the authority to label contentrelated to the Central Government on online platforms operating asintermediaries as “fake” or “misleading”. Further, it provided for mandatingsocial media intermediaries to take down any content so labelled by the PIBFCU from their platforms in order to maintain their legal immunity againstthird-party content.
- Moving against the effect of the notification, the petitioners approached theSupreme Court in a bid to challenge Bombay HC's decision denying theinterim relief of stay. Upon prima-facie examination of the facts of the case,the three-judge Supreme Court bench, led by CJI DY Chandrachud, stayedthe aforementioned Central Government notification.
- The Petitioners have concluded their arguments before the Bombay HC.The submissions on behalf of the Union of India were partly heard by theBench comprising Justice A.S. Chandurkar on July 02, 2024. The nexthearing is scheduled to be held on July 24, 2024.
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