Centre set to notify fact check unit

The ministry of electronics and information technology is all set to notify the setting up of a fact-checking unit to monitor content on social media concerning the business of the Union government under the recently amended Information Technology Rules, officials familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Last week, the Bombay high court refused to restrain the Centre from notifying the setting up of FCU until a third judge renders his opinion on whether the fact check amendment is unconstitutional. The will be issued under Rule 3 of the Information Technology Rules, 2021 under which all intermediaries are required to make “reasonable efforts” to ensure that its users do not “host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share” any information that “deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of the message or knowingly and intentionally communicates any misinformation or information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature or, in respect of any business of the Central Government, is identified as fake or false or misleading by such fact check unit of the Central Government as the Ministry may, by notification published in the Official Gazette, specify”. The Union government had on April 6, 2023 promulgated certain amendments to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, including a provision for an FCU to flag misleading content.