Feedback from Public on Fact-Checking will Strengthen IT Rules: MoS IT

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 11th Feb. The government’s media arm, the Press Information Bureau, has proposed a fact check under the IT Rules in order to strengthen due diligence by intermediaries, and public feedback has been solicited, Parliament was informed on Friday.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that as the Internet has expanded and more Indians have gone online, the number of Indians exposed to false, untrue, or misleading information on the Internet has increased.

He stated that the center, in accordance with the Information Technology Act of 2000, has promulgated the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules), which impose specific obligations on intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to exercise due diligence while performing their duties.

The due diligence under the rule includes making reasonable efforts by the intermediaries to check their users from hosting, displaying, uploading, publishing, transmitting or storing information which knowingly or intentionally communicates any misinformation, or which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature.

“With a view to strengthen the due diligence by intermediaries under the IT Rules, Government has invited feedback from the public on extending such due diligence to include information identified as fake by the Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau,” Chandrasekhar said.

The minister said that the government had set up a Fact Check Unit in November 2019 under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) with a view to achieve the aim of an open, safe and trusted and accountable Internet.

The Fact Check Unit takes cognizance of fake news both suo motu and by way of queries sent by citizens and, in respect of information pertaining to the Central Government, responded to the same with correct information while identifying fake or misleading information as such, he said.