Mumbai: In order to guard the fundamental rights of citizens, the Bombay High Court struck down the amended Information Technology Rules 2023. The rules provided the government with the power to set up a Fact Check Unit (FCU) to identify fake, false, and misleading information about the center and its establishments on social media.
According to the amended IT Rules (2023), the government could have instructed social media platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram, Youtube to remove any content or news related to Central Government’s activities that was identified as ‘fake, false, or misleading’ with the help of FCU. An organization was to be appointed by the government to be the arbiter of such content. In case the intermediaries hadn’t complied with the organization’s decision, they might have lost their safe harbor status under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000.
The High Court in its ruling against these amendments declared that the expression “fake, false and misleading” was “vague and hence wrong” in the absence of any definition. In addition, the court said that the rules also violated Article 14 (Right to Equality), 19 (Freedom of Speech and Expression), and 19 (1) (g) (freedom and right to profession).
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