Speak Out: May 29, 2023

In an interview to PTI, the minister of state for IT and electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar sought to allay concerns around the issue of government-appointed fact check body, saying the move is not about censorship at all, rather it gives the Centre an opportunity to clarify and respond to any misinformation related to it, something that is critical in a democracy.

Misinformation, he said, is not to be confused with right to free speech. The minister noted that misinformation tends to travel 10-15 times faster, and reaches an audience 20-50 times more, than truth. He emphasised that it is absolutely critical that in a democracy if someone says something false about the government, to create hatred, to incite violence, or to just create mistrust, "the government must have an opportunity to say no, this is not true".

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