As the most qualified to counter false information regarding welfare policies and other programs, the government must establish its own fact-checking unit, according to India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Only a few days ago, the Supreme Court blocked the government’s attempt to create its own Fact Check Unit. This is when he made his comments.
“Facts are facts. Opinions are opinions. Recently, an opposition party posted that passengers of India Railways have reduced by 80%. You will have to ask the Railways what is the accurate number to tackle this misinformation,” Mr Vaishnaw said at NDTV Indian Of The Year awards today.
“If there is a question related to the central government, who is best placed to answer that fact? The central government. Our proposal was limited to facts and data related to the central government’s work,” Mr Vaishnaw added.
The Center last year proposed amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, one of which included the establishment of a Fact Check Unit.
Under the rules, if this unit comes across or is informed about any posts that are fake, false, and contain misleading facts about the business of the government, it would flag them to social media intermediaries. Once such a post is flagged, the intermediary has the option of taking it down or putting a disclaimer. In taking the second option, the intermediary risks legal action.
However, censorship concerns had prompted a Supreme Court challenge to the move. The Editors Guild of India and stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, who spearheaded the petition, claimed that the new regulations would limit people’s ability to express themselves freely on social media. To avoid legal issues, they had stated that social media middlemen would quickly remove posts that the government’s Fact Check Unit had flagged.
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