MeitY giving itself sweeping powers to determine what news is fake or false: Editors Guild of India

The EGI said that it is “deeply disturbed” by the move and has sought its withdrawal.

The EGI is an association of news editors in the country.

“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,” the statement said.

The EGI is deeply disturbed by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 (IT Amendment Rules, 2023), which have been notified by MeitY on April 6, 2023, it said in its statement.

“MeitY has introduced amendments to the IT Rules that will have deeply adverse implications for press freedom in the country. As per the rules that have been notified, the ministry has given itself the power to constitute a fact checking unit, which will have sweeping powers to determine what is fake or false or misleading, with respect to any business of the central government and with instructions to social media intermediaries, internet service providers and other service providers to not host such content,” the EGI explained.

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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, EGI said. The so-called ‘fact checking unit’ can be constituted by the Ministry, by a simple notification published in the official gazette, it said.There is no mention of what will be the governing mechanism for such a fact checking unit, the judicial oversight, the right to appeal, or adherence to the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal v Union of India case, with respect to take down of content or blocking of social media handles. All this is against principles of natural justice, and akin to censorship, the press body said.

What is further surprising is that the Ministry has notified this amendment, without any meaningful consultation that it had promised after it withdrew the earlier draft amendments it had put out in January 2023, the EGI said. These had given sweeping powers to the Press Information Bureau, which was universally criticised by media organisations across the country, including the Guild, it added.

“This is not some attempt to censor. It is none of that,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology had said at a press conference on the notification on Thursday.

The EGI had also raised concerns about the move in an open letter to MeitY on January 24, calling it as a move that would lead to government censorship. Apart from the EGI the Digipub News India Foundation, a collective of digital media organisations, had also expressed concerns on the fact checking proposal of the government in January.

Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a digital rights organisation, also said on Thursday that the move will have a “chilling effect on the fundamental right to speech and expression, particularly on news publishers, journalists and activists”.

“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,” it said.

The move will directly and negatively impact online freedom of speech and the right to receive information, IFF said.