On Saturday, the former minister of information technology Kapil Sibal slammed the government over the IT Amendment Rules’ fact-checking provisions, claiming that now the government would determine what is false and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that democracy is not in danger. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, warned on Thursday that internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter risk losing their safe harbour status if they do not take down material that has been flagged as incorrect or misleading by a government-notified fact-checker.
Sibal responded to the situation by saying, “Now that it has determined what is fraudulent and what is not, PIB will inform it. Online platforms will lose their protection from prosecution if they chose to disregard.” “What is phoney and what is not will now be decided by the government! Democracy, according to Amit Shah ji, is not under threat “a Rajya Sabha member said. Sibal targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his recent comments in the UK, claiming that “your family” and the concept of dynasty politics was in peril rather than democracy, when he was alluding to statements made by Shah in Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
According to Chandrasekhar, the IT ministry will alert a body that would report incorrect information about the government that has been placed online. On announcing the IT Rules 2021 guidelines, the minister had said that fact-checking was still being worked on. Chandrasekhar labelled the criticism of the rule change as “deliberate falsehood” on Friday.
“There are no “sweeping powers” and the legislation is not oppressive. Social media intermediaries must comply with IT Rules starting in October 2022 in order to maintain their legal immunity under Section 79 of the IT Act “On Twitter, Chandrasekhar had said. He said that social media middlemen would benefit from the new reliable fact-checking unit for any information connected to the government.
