IT Ministry's New Rule To Empower PIB To Counter Fake News Related To Central Government On Social Media Platforms

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Thursday (April 6) notified new rules that will give the Press Information Bureau (PIB) powers to fact-check any “fake” news about the central government and ask social media platforms to take it down.

 These platforms will lose their safe harbour immunity if they fail to comply with the rules, which gives them immunity against any objectionable content posted on their platform by users.

 The changes were proposed earlier as part of the IT Social Media Intermediaries Rules, 2021. However, their implementation was stalled as they ran into controversy after media bodies charged the government with imposing censorship.

 Minister of State for IT & Electronics Rajeev Chandrashekhar told the Economic Times that “This is not some attempt to censor. It is not mandatory that one has to take down what the notified organisation says, but then you have to deal with it in the court of law.”

 Notably, the government fact-check body will be responsible only for information related to government schemes, said the minister. The government held consultations with various stakeholders like Youtube before bringing out the new rules.

 The fact check unit of the PIB has already identified more than 1,000 instances of fake news related to the government since its setting up in 2019.

 Notably, three days ago, PIB Fact Check flagged a viral news item that claimed that India will become poorer than Bangladesh by 2025. The news clip was shared by three-time Member of Parliament and former cricketer Kirti Azad.

It also flagged a Twitter account claiming to be the official handle of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) when the organisation doesn’t have any presence on Twitter.

 In January, the fact check unit busted six YouTube channels working in coordination to spread false news about India and defame the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.

 The fact check unit can take suo moto cognisance of fake news, while also receiving queries sent by citizens through email and WhatsApp,” the government told the Rajya Sabha earlier.