{"id":1244507,"date":"2023-04-10T13:24:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T07:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?p=1244507"},"modified":"2023-04-10T13:24:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T07:54:39","slug":"editors-guild-not-happy-with-new-it-laws-claims-govt-will-have-absolute-control-over-fake-news-verification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/editors-guild-not-happy-with-new-it-laws-claims-govt-will-have-absolute-control-over-fake-news-verification\/","title":{"rendered":"Editors Guild Not Happy With New IT Laws: Claims Govt Will Have Absolute Control Over Fake News Verification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Editors Guild of India is &#8220;deeply disturbed&#8221; by the &#8220;draconian&#8221; amendments to the Information Technology Rules that gave the government &#8220;absolute power&#8221; to determine fake news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"465\" src=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Untitled-design-1-4.png\" alt=\"Editors Guild Not Happy With New IT Laws: Claims Govt Will Have Absolute Control Over Fake News Verification\" class=\"wp-image-1244513\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Untitled-design-1-4.png 1000w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Untitled-design-1-4-300x140.png 300w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Untitled-design-1-4-768x357.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The new rules<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, deal with information online and the government\u2019s powers to take them down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Guild urged the government to withdraw the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cFact checking unit\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It said as per the rules, the IT ministry has given itself the power to constitute a &#8220;fact checking unit&#8221;, which will have sweeping powers to determine what is &#8220;fake or false or misleading&#8221;, with respect to &#8220;any business of the Central Government\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As early as 2020, the website Newslaundry had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newslaundry.com\/2020\/05\/26\/the-embarrassment-that-is-pib-fact-check-who-fact-checks-this-fact-checker\">highlighted <\/a>several instances in which the the Press Information Bureau (PIB)\u2019s fact-checking unit had not actually been on the side of facts, but instead stuck to the government\u2019s line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Absolute power<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government can also issue instructions to \u2018intermediaries\u2019 (including social media intermediaries, Internet Service Providers, and other service providers), to not <a href=\"https:\/\/thewire.in\/media\/editors-guild-it-amendment-rules-fact-checking\">host <\/a>such content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In effect, the government has given itself absolute power to determine what is fake or not, in respect of its own work, and order take down,&#8221; the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Consultations with parties involved&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement also criticises and calls \u201csurprising\u201d the fact that the Ministry notified this amendment \u201cwithout any meaningful consultation that it had promised\u201d after it withdrew the earlier draft amendments it had put out in January 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Guild again urges the ministry to withdraw this notification and conduct consultations with media organisations and press bodies,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key statements missing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The note observes that there is no mention of what the governing mechanism for such a fact checking unit will be.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nor does it have provisions for judicial oversight, the right to appeal, or how it proposes to adhere to the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal v Union of India case, with respect to the taking down of content or the blocking of social media handles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt the outset, determination of fake news cannot be in the sole hands of the government and will result in the censorship of the press,\u201d the Guild had said in January this year, following the release of the proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The ministry&#8217;s notification of such draconian rules is therefore regrettable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Press freedom and ensorship&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All this is against principles of natural justice, and akin to <a href=\"https:\/\/m-timesofindia-com.cdn.ampproject.org\/c\/s\/m.timesofindia.com\/india\/withdraw-draconian-amendments-to-it-rules-editors-guild\/amp_articleshow\/99319507.cms\">censorship<\/a>,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These amendments will have deeply adverse implications for press freedom in the country, it <a href=\"https:\/\/thewire.in\/media\/editors-guild-it-amendment-rules-fact-checking\">noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement is signed by president Seema Mustafa, general secretary Anant Nath, and treasurer Shriram Pawar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Editors Guild of India is &#8220;deeply disturbed&#8221; by the &#8220;draconian&#8221; amendments to the Information Technology Rules that gave the government &#8220;absolute power&#8221; to determine fake news. The new rules The new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, deal with information online and the government\u2019s powers to take them [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1244513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[1340,129,1339],"class_list":["post-1244507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-editors-guild","tag-govt-of-india","tag-it-laws"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Editors Guild Not Happy With New IT Laws: Claims Govt Will Have Absolute Control Over Fake News Verification - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/editors-guild-not-happy-with-new-it-laws-claims-govt-will-have-absolute-control-over-fake-news-verification\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Editors Guild Not Happy With New IT Laws: Claims Govt Will Have Absolute Control Over Fake News Verification - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Editors Guild of India is &#8220;deeply disturbed&#8221; by the &#8220;draconian&#8221; amendments to the Information Technology Rules that gave the government &#8220;absolute power&#8221; to determine fake news. 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