The controversial fact-checking unit, which is being constituted to identify fake news against the government, will not be notified by the government until July 5. The Centre apprised the Bombay High Court on this matter on Thursday, effectively staying the provisions of the IT Amendment Rules 2023 related to the fact-checking powers of the Union Government until July 5.
During the Thursday hearing, the Bombay High Court had said that the fact-checking unit will not function until the court provides the date. Consequently, the Centre has delayed the notification of the unit.
The IT Amendment Rules 2023 were notified on April 6. The rules created a government-appointed fact-check unit that could censor any online content related to the Union government.
Political satarist Kunal Kamra, in collaboration with the Internet Freedom Foundation, filed a petition with the Bombay High Court, challenging the constitutionality of the fact-check body.
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Kamra, in his petition, claimed the new rules could potentially lead to his content being arbitrarily blocked or his social media accounts being suspended or deactivated, thus harming him professionally.
He has sought that the court declares the amended rules unconstitutional and give a direction to the government to restrain from acting against any individual under the rules.
The Union government, in its affidavit filed in court last week, reiterated that the “role of the fact check unit is restricted to any business of the central government, which may include information about policies, programmes, notifications, rules, regulations, implementation thereof, etc”.
“The fact-check unit may only identify fake or false or misleading information and not any opinion, satire or artistic impression. Therefore, the aim of the government regarding the introduction of the impugned provision is explicitly clear and suffers from no purported arbitrariness or unreasonableness as alleged by the petitioner (Kamra),” the Centre’s affidavit had said.