Supreme Court Stays Centre's Notification On Its Fact-Check Unit

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the fact check unit rules notification issued by the central government on March 20. The stay will be valid till the proceedings challenging the IT Rules amendment 2023 is completed in the Bombay High Court.

The central government notified the fact-check unit under the Press Information Bureau as the designated body to flag misinformation about central government departments to social media platforms. As a result, any information to the central government posted on social media platforms that has been flagged as false or fake by the fact-checking unit has to be taken down by the social media intermediaries.

LiveLaw reported that the apex court has set aside the Bombay High Court order, which refused to grant an interim stay on setting up the FCU. The petition in the Bombay High Court was filed by the Editors Guild of India and stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra. On that occasion, the petitioners argued that the rules would result in unjustified censorship of online content to the government.

The Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justices DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, was on the view that there exist prima facie grounds for staying the recent notification, reported LiveLaw.

Advocate Darius Khambata, who appeared on behalf of Kunal Kamra, noted that the main problem with the latest fact checking mechanism was letting the Centre control the information to be consumed by the public. “There can”t be truth in the absence of exercise of rights under Article 19(1)(a). If the Govt says this is the truth which everyone must follow, it strikes at the core of Article 19,” said Advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for the Editor”s Guild, as quoted by LiveLaw.

Meanwhile, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, stated that the fact check unit only cross-checks and informs various social media platforms of the false information from the official records.