SC stays govt's notification on setting up fact check unit
issued a notification on 20 March designating the Press Information Bureau (PIB) as the fact-checking unit. The top court also set aside the Bombay high court's 13 March interim order, which had refused to restrain the government from notifying the fact-checking unit.
A three-judge bench led by chief justice DY Chandrachud noted that at this stage, it does not intend to express its opinion on the case or how it would impact the ongoing proceedings in the Bombay high court. The apex court highlighted the need for a serious constitutional analysis of certain provisions of the amended IT Rules thatempower the government to establish a fact-checking unit.
The provisions also allow the government to unilaterally declare online content related to the government's business on social media platforms as fake, false, or misleading. The pleas challenging the government notification were filed in the Supreme Court by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild of India.
According to the notification, any information posted on social media related to the business of the government flagged as fake or false by the unit, must be taken down by social media intermediaries. Failure to do so would result in the loss of “safe harbor" immunity against legal proceedings arising from such posted information.
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