Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Saturday slammed the Centre amid the controversy over its notification on Thursday to appoint a fact-checker to track fake news and have them taken down.
Taking to Twitter, Sibal claimed that the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has been anointed as the designated fact checker and tracker of fake news. “Online Platforms: Now PIB will decide what is fake and what is not and notify it,” Sibal tweeted.
He further posted, “Now Government to decide what is fake and what is not! And Amit Shah ji says democracy is not in danger!”
While former Congress leader claimed that the PIB has been anointed as the fake news police, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday clarified that the rules notified yesterday (Thursday) do not mention “PIB Fact Check”.
The Union minister clarified reports that as per the amended Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, social media platforms and other intermediaries will now have to make sure that “fake news” articles about the Centre, declared as such by PIB, are taken down from their platforms once alerted.
The minister said that the rules do not suggest that the agency declaring fake news will be PIB Fact Check.
“The rules do not at all suggest that it’s going to be PIB Fact Check. I think some of the grey area, or indeed the misapprehension, comes from the fact that the original draft of the rule that went for consultation talked about PIB Fact check. The rules that were notified yesterday (Thursday) do not mention PIB Fact Check,” Chandrashekhar told ANI on Friday.
He said, “So we have yet to take a decision on whether it will be a new organization that has trust and credibility associated with it, or do we take an old organisation and repurpose it to build trust and credibility in terms of a fact-checking mission.”
Earlier on Thursday, the Centre issued notifications regarding amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, related to online gaming and the spread of false and misleading information regarding government business.
Apart from it, the amended rules now also make it obligatory on the intermediaries not to publish, share or host fake, false or misleading information in respect of any business of the Central Government.
“These fake, false or misleading information will be identified by the notified Fact Check Unit of the Central Government. it is to be noted that the existing IT rules already required the intermediaries to make reasonable efforts to not host, publish or share any information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature,” the IT ministry said in a press note earlier.
“The rules already cast an obligation on intermediaries to make reasonable efforts to not host, publish or share any information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature,” it added.