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The Bombay High Court is set to pronounce its verdict on Monday in connection with the pleas filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and others challenging the 2023 amendment of Information Technology (IT) Rules for Intermediaries. The verdict will be delivered at 4.30 pm, Bar and Bench reported.
The IT rules provide for the setting up of the Fact Checking Unit (FCU) to identify and flag fake, false and misleading facts on social media. As per the amended rules, “These fake, false or misleading information will identified by the notified Fact Check Unit of the Central Government. It is to be noted that the existing IT rules already required the intermediaries to make reasonable efforts to not host, publish or share any information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature,” the IT ministry had said earlier.
ALSO READ: ‘Not PIB fact check’, Rajeev Chandrasekhar clarifies on IT rules for ‘fake’ news
Kunal Kamra, the Editors Guild of India and the Association of Indian Magazines had earlier filed petitions in the high court against the Rules, terming them arbitrary and unconstitutional. They claimed that they would have a chilling effect on the fundamental rights of citizens, according to news agency PTI.
The pleas said the government was trying to be the sole arbiter. It alleged that through these Rules, the government would try to curtail citizens’ freedom of speech and the right to expression.
ALSO READ: HC questions govt’s plan for fact check
The Centre, however, said that it was not against any kind of opinion, criticism, satire or humour and that the Rules were to only proscribe or prohibit the peddling of fake, false and misleading facts on social media.
On April 6, 2023, the Centre promulgated certain amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. It included a provision for a fact-checking unit to flag fake, false or misleading online content related to the government.
The three petitions sought the court to declare the amended Rules unconstitutional and direct the government to restrain from acting against any individual under the Rules. The Union government had earlier assured the court that until judgment in the case was delivered, the Centre would not notify the Fact Checking Unit (FCU).
A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale finished hearing arguments in the matter on September 29 last year.
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Published: 15 Jan 2024, 03:14 PM IST
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