DigiPub says <strong>Draft IT Rules</strong> can become a mechanism to muzzle press

Draft IT Rules: DigiPub, a consortium of digital news outlets in India, has raised concern over a draft amendment to the Information Technology Rules, 2021. “The proposed amendments can potentially become a convenient institutional mechanism to muzzle the press,” DIGIPUB News India Foundation, which comprises 11 digital news outlets said in a statement on Thursday, January 19.

The amendment asks social media companies to take down news articles that have been deemed “fake” by the Press Information Bureau.

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‘Fake news needs to be checked’

"DigiPub firmly believes that the nuisance of disinformation/ misinformation needs to be checked. However, the proposed amendments assign arbitrary and discretionary power to the government of India to determine whether the content is 'fake' without prescribing any procedures or recourse therefrom," the statement said.

It said, “The government is not the only stakeholder in a thriving democracy. The media (electronic, print and digital), information activists, civil society, etc. are equally invested in a democracy’s wellbeing and in uploading constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and expression. Therefore, the government should not appropriate powers to legitimise what information/news is real or fake.”

Uploaded on website

The new draft amendment to the IT Rules was uploaded on the MeitY website on Tuesday, January 17. “In the national interest, the Government of India must create and nurture and enabling environment for the media to function freely. The media’s constitutional and moral duty is to ensure that citizens know the truth. To undermine the media’s mandate is to undermine democracy itself,” the DIGIPUB statement added. It urged the government to consider withdrawing the proposed amendments.

Earlier, the Editors Guild of India has expressed “deep concern” over the draft amendments.It stated, “Determination of fake news cannot be in the sole hands of the government.”

In a statement released on January 18, the guild said that “it is deeply concerned by the draft amendment made to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) that gives authority to PIB to determine the veracity of news reports, and anything termed ‘fake’ will have to be taken down by online intermediaries, including social media platforms”.

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