INDIA. Mumbai: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has questioned the amendment to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) that gives authority to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to determine the integrity of the news.
“The Editors Guild of India is deeply concerned by the draft amendment made to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY), which gives authority to the PIB to determine the veracity of news reports. Anything termed ‘fake’ will have to be taken down by online intermediaries, including social media platforms.”
The amendment was uploaded on the Ministry’s website on January 17, and the ECI president, Seema Mustafa, said in a statement that Anant Nath, the general secretary, and Shriram Pawar, the treasurer of the EGI, had endorsed it.
“At the outset, the determination of fake news cannot be in the sole hands of the government and will result in the censorship of the press. Already, multiple laws exist to deal with content found to be factually incorrect,” the EGI stated.
“This new procedure makes it easier to silence the free press, and it will give the PIB or any “other agency authorised by the Central Government for fact-checking” broad powers to force online intermediaries to take down content that the government may find troubling,” it said.
Further, the words “in respect of any business of the Central Government” seem to give the government carte blanche to determine what is fake or not concerning its own work.
This will make it harder for people to criticise the government in a fair way, and it will hurt the press’s ability to hold the government accountable, which is a key part of a democracy.
When the IT Rules were first introduced in March 2021, the Guild expressed serious concerns that they allowed the Union Government to block, delete, or modify published news nationwide without judicial oversight.
The ECI statement says that different parts of these rules can put unreasonable limits on digital news media and, as a result, on media in general.
The Guild has urged the Ministry to delete this new amendment and to initiate meaningful consultations with press bodies, media organizations, and other stakeholders on the digital media regulatory framework, not to undermine press freedom.
The amendment to the act defines “news and current affairs content” as newly received or noteworthy content. This includes analysis, especially about recent socio-political, economic, or cultural events, made available over the internet or computer networks and any digital media where the context, substance, purpose, import, and meaning of such information are like news and current affairs content.
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