On Thursday, the Supreme Court stayed the Centre’s notification on setting up a fact-checking unit under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to identify fake news about the Union government.
The top court was hearing petitions filed Political satirist and comedian Kunal Kamra, Association of Indian Magazines, News Broadcasters of Digital Association & Editor’s Guild of India seeking an interim stay on Fact-Check Units under the new IT Amendment Rules 2023.
On March 20, the Fact Check Unit was notified under Information Technology Rules, 2021, by the Ministry of Electronics and IT.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud set aside the March 11 order of the Bombay High Court which had refused to grant interim stay on setting up the FCU under the amended IT Rules to identify fake and false content on social media about the Union government.
The bench said, ‘We are of the considered view that questions before the HC deal with core questions on Article 19(1)(a) of the constitution.
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