Govt alone cannot determine fake news, says Editors Guild of India on amendment to IT Law

The Editors Guild of India on January 18 urged the government to “expunge” the draft amendment to the IT Rules asking social media companies to take down news articles that have been deemed "fake" by the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

"The Guild urges the Ministry to expunge this new amendment, and to initiate meaningful consultations with press bodies, media organisations and other stakeholders, on the regulatory framework for digital media, so as to not undermine press freedom," a statement issued by the Editors Guild of India said. "At the outset, determination of fake news cannot be in the sole hands of the government and will result in the censorship of the press," the Guild said in a statement here, voicing "deep concern" over the draft amendment to the Information Technology (IT) Rules.

It said that already multiple laws exist to deal with content that is found to be factually incorrect.

"This new procedure basically serves to make it easier to muzzle the free press, and will give sweeping powers to the PIB, or any ‘other agency authorised by the Central government for fact checking’, to force online intermediaries to take down content that the government may find problematic," the Guild said.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on January 17 released a modification to the draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 it had previously released for public consultation.

(PTI)

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