PIB Fact Check: The notification states, the Central Government hereby notifies the Fact Check Unit under the Press Information Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as the Fact Check Unit of the Central Government. The Fact Check unit will be the nodal agency to deal with or alert all fake news or misinformation related to the Central Government.
PIB Fact Check: The petition against the decision of the Bombay High Court may be heard in the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The notification comes days after the Bombay High Court refused to stop the Center from notifying the unit. The petition was filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild of India. The petitioners have moved the Supreme Court against the decision of the Bombay High Court and the matter is likely to be heard on Thursday.
Meitei implemented rules in April 2023
In April last year, Meitei promulgated the 2023 Rules, which further amended the Information Technology Rules, 2021. Under the new rules, if the fact checking unit comes to know or is informed about any post that is ‘fake’, ‘incorrect’ or contains misleading facts related to the working of the government, it can share the information on social media. The media will give to the mediums. If online mediums are to retain their ‘safe harbour’ (legal immunity against third party content) they must remove such content. The fact-checking unit under PIB was set up in November, 2019 with the stated objective of acting as a deterrent to spreaders of fake news and misinformation.