The Editors Guild of India has also issued a statement saying that the amendments to the IT Rules are draconian and will have deeply adverse implications for press freedom in the country.
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The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeITy), on Thursday, April 7, notified amendments to the 2021 IT Rules that allow an entity formed by the Union government to decide whether information shared on social media platforms are ‘fake’ or not. This will include news articles or videos published by any media organisation online. The new rule makes it obligatory for social media platforms, considered to be intermediaries, to “not share or host fake, false or misleading information in respect of any business of the Union government.” This basically means that once the fact checking entity of the government brands an article, video etc as false, fake or misleading, it can then ask social media platforms to remove it. One of the primary amendments made to the rules, which has become controversial, is the appointment of a Fact-checking Unit to identify fake news. “These amendments have been drafted after holding widespread consultations with multiple stakeholders including parents, school teachers, academics, students, gamers and gaming industry associations, child rights bodies, etc,” MeITy said in a statement. Union minister of state for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told PTI that the government has decided to notify an entity through Meity which would be the fact-checker for all aspects of content online and content related to the government. The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) in a statement said they are deeply concerned by the amendments. “In addition to amendments relating to online gaming, the IT Amendment Rules, 2023, includes amendments which directly and negatively impact online freedom of speech and the right to receive information,” a statement by the IFF said. “In an event where intermediaries, including social media intermediaries (Facebook, Twitter etc.), Internet Service Providers (ISPs like Airtel, ACT, Jio etc.) or other service providers, fail to/ decide against taking action on content identified as ‘fake’ or ‘false’ by the notified fact-check unit, they will risk losing their safe harbour protections,” the statement said. “Assigning any unit of the government such arbitrary, overbroad powers to determine the authenticity of online content bypasses the principles of natural justice, thus making it an unconstitutional exercise. The notification of these amended rules cement the chilling effect on the fundamental right to speech and expression, particularly on news publishers, journalists, activists, etc,” it added. The amendments are also in gross violation of a Supreme Court ruling which laid down strict procedures for blocking content, in addition to circumventing the parliamentary procedures required to expand the scope of the parent legislation - the IT Act. “Finally, the vagueness of the undefined terms such as ‘fake’, ‘false’, 'misleading’ make such overbroad powers further susceptible to misuse. The IFF will continue to contest these legally contentious amendments to the IT Rules, 2021, as well as the Rules in their entirety. We will be sending representations to the appropriate public authorities, in continuation with our consistent efforts to raise awareness among the government and other stakeholders about the grave threats posed by these Rules.” The Internet Freedom Foundation’s statement on the notification of the IT Amendment Rules, 2023. Read pic.twitter.com/qPuqNICWht — Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) April 6, 2023 The Editors Guild of India has also issued a statement saying that the amendments to the IT Rules will have deeply adverse implications for press freedom in the country. “In effect, the government has given itself absolute power to determine what is fake or not, in respect of its own work, and order take down. The so-called 'fact-checking unit' can be constituted by the ministry, by a simple “notification published in the Official Gazette". All this is against principles of natural justice, and akin to censorship. The Ministry's notification of such draconian rules is therefore regrettable. The Guild again urges the Ministry to withdraw this notification and conduct consultations with media organisations and press bodies.” EGI is disturbed by the amendments notified to the IT Rules 2021, by @GoI_MeitY giving itself authority to constitute a “fact checking unit”, with sweeping powers to determine what is “fake or false” wrt “business of Central Government”, and order take down to intermediaries. pic.twitter.com/8osEyM1RTS — Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) April 7, 2023 The amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, pertains to the spread of information against the government on online gaming intermediaries or social media intermediaries. As per the Section 2(1)(w) of the IT Act, 2000, an intermediary is defined as “any person who on behalf of another person receives, stores or transmits that record or provides any service with respect to that record and includes telecom service providers, network service providers, internet service providers, web-hosting service providers, search engines, online payment sites, online-auction sites, online-marketplaces and cyber cafes.” Through the amendments, MeITy has made it obligatory for the intermediaries to make “reasonable effort” to not host, publish or share any online game that can cause the user harm, or that has not been verified as a permissible online game by an online gaming self-regulatory body designated by the Union government.
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