The Supreme Court on Thursday put on hold a notification issued by the Centre to set up a Fact Check Unit (FCU) under the Press Information Bureau (PIB).
The government notified the unit on Wednesday to "address the challenge of fake news." The unit was tasked with identifying posts that are fake, false, or contain misleading facts about the business of the government, and flag them to social media intermediaries.
The intermediary was then required to taking the post down or attach a disclaimer.
The Supreme Court, however, set aside a Bombay High Court order that allowed a fact checking by the government.
Hearing an application by stand-up comic Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild of India, a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said the matter concerns freedom of expression.