PIB Fact Check: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Centre’s notification to create a ‘Fact Check’ (fact checking) unit under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to detect fake news about the Central Government. Put it on. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had issued a notification for the ‘Fact Check’ Unit (FCU) on March 20 under the Information Technology Rules, 2021.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud set aside the March 11 order of the Bombay High Court on setting up of the FCU under the amended IT rules to identify fake and inaccurate content on social media about the central government. Interim injunction was refused. The bench said, “We are of the considered opinion that the questions before the High Court relate to the fundamental questions of Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution.”
Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra were also included in the bench. The bench said, “We are of the opinion that after the request for interim relief is rejected, there is a need to stay the notification issued on March 20, 2024.” The challenge to the validity of Article 3(1)(b)(5) involves serious constitutional questions and it was necessary for the High Court to analyze the impact of the rules on free speech and expression.”
As per the government notification, FCU will be the nodal agency to deal with or alert all fake news or misinformation related to the central government. The notification comes days after the Bombay High Court refused to stop the Center from issuing notification of the unit. The petition was filed by ‘Stand-up comedian’ Kunal Kamra and ‘Editors Guild of India’. In April last year, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had promulgated Rules, 2023, through which further amendments were made in the Information Technology Rules, 2021.