{"id":29810,"date":"2024-09-21T18:46:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T13:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=29810"},"modified":"2024-09-21T18:46:30","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T13:16:30","slug":"bombay-hc-struck-down-fact-check-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-09-2024\/bombay-hc-struck-down-fact-check-unit","title":{"rendered":"Bombay HC Struck Down Fact Check Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Bombay High Court<strong> struck down the amended Information Technology Rules, 2023<\/strong>, which empowered the Centre to<strong> set up a fact check unit (FCU) <\/strong>to identify fake, false and misleading information about the government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"d7d7d8\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"614\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Bombay-HC-Struck-Down-Fact-Check-Unit-jpg.webp\" alt=\"Bombay HC Struck Down Fact Check Unit\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-29815\" style=\"--dominant-color: #d7d7d8; width:356px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Bombay-HC-Struck-Down-Fact-Check-Unit-jpg.webp 650w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Bombay-HC-Struck-Down-Fact-Check-Unit-300x283.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Amended Information Technology (IT) Rules<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The amendment to The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 notified in 2023 did two things:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>they brought in a<strong> legal framework <\/strong>for the online gaming eco-system&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>and introduced a <strong>legal mechanism for the government to fact-check online <\/strong>content pertaining to<strong> \u201cgovernment business\u201d.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Rules made it <strong>obligatory<\/strong> on intermediaries like social media platforms \u201cto not to publish, share or host fake, false or misleading information in respect of any business of the Central Government\u201d.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The changes raised concern that the FCU will make the government the <strong>\u201csole arbiter of truth\u201d<\/strong> in respect of any business related to itself.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Subsequently, the <strong>rules were challenged before the Bombay High Court.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns Raised Due to Amended Rules<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>IT Rules 2021 were challenged to be <strong>violative of Article 14, Article 19(1)(a) and (g), and Article 21 of the Constitution<\/strong>, and Section 79 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 14 refers to equality before the law<\/strong> and the provisions referred to under Article 19 pertain to the <strong>right to freedom of speech and expression,<\/strong> and the<strong> right to practice a profession or trade.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The amendment essentially expanded the <strong>general term \u201cfake news\u201d to include fake news involving government business.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The petitioners argued before the court that this would have a <strong>\u201cchilling effect\u201d upon the freedom of speech and expression.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Section 69 of the IT Act empowers the government to issue directions to <strong>block public access to any information through any computer resourc<\/strong>e. The Rules were framed essentially in exercise of this power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Bombay High Court examined if these Rules were violative of free speech, and were arbitrary in nature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is the Fact Check Unit?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It was established under the <strong>Press Information Bureau (PIB)<\/strong> and started its <strong>operations in 2019.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It was constituted to flag <strong>\u201cfake, false or misleading online content related to the government.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The FCU would flag off the fake, false, and misleading facts about the business of the government<strong> to social media intermediaries.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once such a post is flagged off, the <strong>intermediary has the option of either taking down the post or putting a disclaimer on the same.&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In taking the second option, the intermediary loses its safe harbour\/immunity and stands <strong>liable for legal action.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recently, The government notified the Fact Check Unit <strong>under Information Technology Rules, 2021.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/cities\/mumbai\/bombay-hc-strikes-down-it-act-amendment-fact-check-unit-9579044\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bombay High Court struck down the amended Information Technology Rules, 2023, which empowered the Centre to set up a fact check unit (FCU) to identify fake, false and misleading information about the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29810"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29816,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29810\/revisions\/29816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}