The Bombay High Court has invalidated an amendment to IT rules that allowed the government to set up fact-check units for identifying false news about it on social media. The court found the rule vague and disproportionate, impacting fundamental rights.
Mishi Choudhary, founder of Software Freedom Law Centre India (SFLC) said, the Bombay High Court judgement striking down the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, specifically Rule 3, which empowers the Central government to form Fact-Check Units (FCUs) for identifying false or fake news against the government on social media and online platforms is a welcome development in this era of misinformation put on steroids with the user of Gen Ai.
Bombay HC terms IT Rule on fact-check unit ‘ultra vires’
