On Friday, the High Court of Bombay that it would pronounce its verdict on Jan 15, 2024, on a batch of petitions challenging the recently-amended Information Technology (IT) Rules against fake news pertaining to the government on social media.A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel & Neela Gokhale had reserved the verdict, on September 29, on the petitions after a lengthy hearing.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that his earlier statement, that until the judgment in the case was delivered, the Centre would not notify the Fact Checking Unit (FCU), will continue. As per the amended Rules, an FCU is to be set up to identify & flag off fake, false & misleading facts on social media.The Union government promulgated certain amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, on April 6.
About Kunal Kamra's Plea Challenging New IT Rules.The HC heard a batch of petitions challenging the amended IT rules filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, the Editors Guild of India & the Association of Indian Magazines seeking directions against the framing of the rules calling them “arbitrary, unconstitutional” & that the same would have a “chilling effect” on the fundamental rights of citizens.They contended that the government was trying to be the sole arbiter & would through these rules try to curtail citizens' freedom of speech & the right to expression. They sought direction from the court to declare the amended rules unconstitutional & direct the government to restrain from acting against any individual under the rules.
However, the Centre said it was not against any kind of opinion, criticism, satire or humour, adding the rules were to only proscribe or prohibit peddling of fake, false & misleading facts on social media.The amendment to Rule 3 provides that the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology can notify a fact-checking body which is empowered to identify & tag what it considers false or fake online news with respect to any activity of the Central government. Against such content identified by this unit, intermediaries, such as social media companies, will have to act or risk losing their "safe harbour" protections in Section 79 of the IT Act, which allows intermediaries to avoid liabilities for what third parties post on their websites.
TAGS: Bombay High Court Verdict Information Technology Rules
