As per the proposed amendment, intermediaries shall make reasonable efforts to cause the user not to host, display, upload, modify, transit, or publish any message that has been “identified as fake or false by the fact check unit at the Press Information Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting or other agency authorised by the Central Government for fact-checking or, in respect of any business of the Central Government, by its department in which such business is transacted under the rules of business”.
The PIB, which is the official communication arm of the government, launched a fact-checking unit in November 2019.
The agency takes suo-motto cognisance of tweets and social media posts related to government schemes.
The agency also responds to citizens’ queries on claims and news related to government schemes.
In a late-night update to the draft of the Information Technology Rules on Wednesday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology proposed these changes and has asked stakeholders to respond to the proposal by January 25.
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The proposed change was introduced in a notification which also extended the last date for receiving inputs on the draft of the online gaming rules.On Tuesday, the government also met representatives of gaming companies and intermediaries and heard their feedback on the draft of the online gaming rules.
Experts, however, said that the government should convene a stakeholder meeting and discuss the issue separately.
“Misinformation and content moderation is the thorniest issue on internet regulation today, by clubbing it with discussions on online gaming, we are not giving it the attention and deliberation it deserves,” Aparajita Bharti, founding partner at New Delhi-based public policy firm The Quantum Hub said.
