The Centre told the Bombay High Court that it was guided by public interest and responsibility cast upon it to introduce the IT Rules, 2023 in response to concerns voiced by democratically elected representatives, stakeholders, judicial directions and feedback received from the general public.
Growth of social media platforms and their influencing capabilities, international developments in social media regulations and the compelling need to deal with fake news and hate speech have been key reasons why IT Rules 2023 were introduced in supersession of their previous avatars, the government said in its affidavit.
In this connection, it is pertinent to note that in recent years, members of parliament have repeatedly posed questions in the Parliament seeking information from the government regarding various aspects of fake news and voicing concerns with respect to the same, the affidavit said.
False and misleading information is detrimental to the public interest, the government added. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) further clarified that the government’s fact-checking unit would only tackle fake news restricted to government business and not opinions, satire or artistic impressions.
The Bombay High Court on April 11 had asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) to give reasons why Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2023 were amended to allow the government or its authorities to fact-check news organisations.
The high court’s observation came on a plea filed by stand-up comic Kunal Kamra who has challenged the amendments to the IT Rules.
Responding to the plea, the Centre said Kamra was “grandstanding” and trying to portray himself as a “future victim” which only reflected a malafide intent since the new IT Rules, 2023 or any fact-check unit have not yet been notified and no instructions have been given to any intermediary to remove any content.
Fake news detrimental to public interest
The Centre told the high court that false and misleading information can adversely impact electoral democracy, the economy and the social fabric in many ways with severe and lasting damage. It has the potential to fan separatist movements and intensify social and political conflict, while also weakening public trust in democratic institutions, the affidavit read.
The Meity further submitted that in matters of public interest, misleading content on social media platforms influences citizens’ perceptions regarding reality and creates doubts regarding the actions and intentions of the democratically elected government.
A more egregious form of false and misleading information is disinformation, the affidavit read.
Fake News travels six times faster than the factually verified content
Fake news is known to spread many times faster than factually correct information, the government said giving context to the establishment of its fact-checking unit. The Centre quoted a study done by MIT scholars Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy and Professor Sinan Aral, which said falsehoods are 70 per cent more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth and false news reached 1500 people about six times faster than truth.
Centre said fake news could be effectively countered if after fact-checking from authentic sources, social media intermediaries made reasonable efforts not to share information that has been identified as false or misleading.
The government has claimed that its authorised fact-checking unit will provide for a system of evidence-based-fact-checking to counter fake news that has in the past gone viral and resulted in riots, mob lynching and other heinous crimes, including those concerning the dignity of women and sexual abuse of children.
Thus, it would be beneficial if a government agency authenticated facts keeping in view the virality of fake news and its propensity to harm members of the public.
BOOM spoke to editors and media executives who voiced concern over the government's move to fact-check news organisations and social media platforms. They expressed reservations and said newsrooms run by journalists are best placed to fact-check the government and not the other way around.
In his plea, Kamra told the Bombay High Court the new IT Rules can have a retrospective effect and that the stand-up comic who is also a political satirist can be “cherry-picked” for his content.