JOIN USMeitY suggests online platforms take down news flagged by PIB as 'fake'
According to a new draft of amendments to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, any news identified as "fake" by the fact-checking unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) will not be allowed on online intermediaries, including social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The PIB is the Union government's nodal agency to share news and information on its policies, programmes and decisions.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) uploaded the new draft of amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, on Tuesday. While the draft amendment is directed at regulating online gaming platforms, it also includes the provision that gives PIB the authority to determine "fake news" and "any other agency authorised by the Central Government for fact-checking". The amendments have drawn criticism from the Editors Guild as an attempt to censor and muzzle press freedom.
According to one of the amendments, an intermediary, including social media and online gaming intermediaries, shall take down misinformation or information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature, including which "is identified as fake or false by the fact check unit at the Press Information Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The amendment also authorises any "other agency authorised by the Central Government for fact-checking" or in respect of any business of the Central Government, by its department in which such business is transacted".
The amendment that seeks to empower the PIB's fact-checking unit and other agencies that the Union government might authorise has been added under due diligence requirements to be followed by intermediaries to enjoy legal immunity from third-party content hosted by them. Social media platforms, internet service providers, and web hosting providers are all currently classified as intermediaries and will have to follow the provision if and when notified.
The PIB's fact-checking unit, set up in December 2019, flags news reports and any other information, including on WhatsApp or social media, about the government which, in its assessment, is fake or misleading. However, it has itself been guilty of flagging genuine news and information, even from government departments, as fake. In December 2020, the PIB Fact Check stamped a genuine recruitment notice issued by the Intelligence Bureau as false but deleted its tweet when the Publications Division, a sister arm of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, pointed at the government published Employment News advertisement.