Withdraw ‘Draconian’ Amendments To IT Rules: Editors’ Guild

The Editors’ Guild of India on Friday said it was “deeply disturbed” by the “draconian” amendments to the Information Technology Rules that gave the government “absolute power” to determine fake news.

In a statement in New Delhi, the Guild urged the government to withdraw the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules and hold consultations with media organisations and press bodies, as it had promised earlier.

The Guild said as per the rules, the IT Ministry has given itself the power to constitute a “fact-checking unit”, which will have sweeping powers to determine what is “fake or false or misleading”, with respect to “any business of the Central Government.”

“The ministry has also empowered itself to issue instructions to ‘intermediaries’ (including social media intermediaries, Internet Service Providers, and other service providers), to not host such content,” the Guild said.

“In effect, the government has given itself absolute power to determine what is fake or not, in respect of its own work, and order take down,” the statement said.

The Guild said there was no mention of the governing mechanism for such a fact-checking unit, the judicial oversight, the right to appeal, or adherence to the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India case, with respect to taking down content or blocking of social media handles.

“All this is against principles of natural justice, and akin to censorship,” it said.

The Guild said it was surprising that the Ministry had notified this amendment, without any meaningful consultation that it had promised after withdrawing the earlier draft amendments it had put out in January 2023.

“The Ministry’s notification of such draconian rules is therefore regrettable. The Guild again urges the Ministry to withdraw this notification and conduct consultations with media organisations and press bodies,” it said.

Meanwhile, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for IT, dismissed concerns that the recent amendments would lead to censorship and assured that the fact checks will be done in a credible way.

He defended the amendment saying, “These rules focus on safety, trust and openness of the internet. If they are to enjoy safe harbour under Section 79, they have to comply. This is not an attempt to censor content. If there is an aggrieved party, then Section 79 will not be a safe harbour; it will not be an excuse to escape responsibility.”

It is to be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre has been in repeated tussles with various social media platforms when they failed to heed demands that certain content or accounts be taken down for allegedly spreading misinformation.

Earlier this week, the Editors’ Guild had said it is deeply concerned about the arbitrary suspension of social media accounts of journalists and media organisations in Punjab. The Guild alleged that the state government’s arbitrary actions under the pretext of maintaining security undermine press freedom.

The journalists’ body noted: “The official Twitter account of BBC Punjabi was withheld on March 27, though it was restored later in the day. Similarly, social media accounts of a senior staffer at the Indian Express as well as some other prominent journalists were also suspended. This has been part of the larger restrictions on internet services as well as orders of suspension of several social media accounts other than that of journalists, by the Government of Punjab since March 17th, as part of the man-hunt to arrest the radical preacher Amritpal Singh.”

It added: “The Guild is concerned that in the suspension of all these social media handles, no due processes were followed and they were carried out against the principles of natural justice.”

The Guild has urged the state and Union governments as well as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), to act with restraint in all such cases, and base action, if required, on due diligence based on facts and in adherence to processes laid down by the Supreme Court of India. “Currently, the widespread action against journalists and the larger media fraternity has created an atmosphere of fear in Punjab that is not conducive to free and fair journalism,” it observed.

The EGI also urged the authorities to release all the orders of suspension in the public domain, in the interest of transparency and the spirit of the law.