Editors Guild Welcomes Bombay High Court Verdict On Centre’s Fact-Check Units
The Editors Guild of India has welcomed the Bombay High Court’s verdict that declared the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, as unconstitutional. The court specifically struck down Rule 3, which empowered the Central Government to form Fact-Check Units (FCUs) to identify “fake and misleading” information about its business on social media platforms.
Justice AS Chandurkar, delivering the judgement, ruled that the amendments violated Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution, which safeguard the right to equality and the freedom of speech and expression, respectively. He further observed that the amendments did not satisfy the “test of proportionality” and were also in breach of Article 21, which ensures the protection of life and personal liberty. The case had been referred to Justice Chandurkar after a division bench, comprising Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale, delivered a split verdict in January 2024. Justice Patel had struck down the rules, citing them as unconstitutional, while Justice Gokhale upheld their validity.
The IT Amendment Rules, notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in April 2023, granted the government the authority to remove online content deemed “fake, false, or misleading” if it related to the business of the Central Government. The Editors Guild, in its statement from April 2023, raised concerns about the potential threat the amendments posed to press freedom.
In June 2023, the Editors Guild, along with other petitioners including political satirist Kunal Kamra, the Association of Indian Magazines, and the News Broadcasters & Digital Association, filed a writ petition challenging the constitutional validity of the rules. The Guild argued that the amendments were ultra vires the Information Technology Act, 2000, and violated the right to freedom of speech and expression.
The Guild praised the legal team that spearheaded the effort, including Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat and advocates Natasha Maheshwari, Hrishika Jain, and Niharika. The petition was filed by Bombay counsel Bimal Rajshekhar. The Editors Guild also extended its gratitude to the other petitioners and their legal teams for their efforts in securing this judgement.
The central government’s attempt to set up fact-checking units had been a controversial issue, raising concerns about censorship and the potential infringement on free speech, which the Bombay High Court has now decisively addressed.
