Draconian rules: The Hindu Editorial on the impact of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023

April 10, 2023 12:20 am | Updated 08:39 am IST With the advent of social media — the product of the evolution of the Internet into a sphere of communication that allows for relatively unfettered user-generated content — the problem of misinformation has taken a grotesque form. In the IT Amendment Rules, 2023, the Union government has added a provision of a fact-check unit to identify fake or false or misleading online content related to the government. Against such content identified by this unit, intermediaries, such as social media companies or net service providers, will have to take action or risk losing their “safe harbour” protections in Section 79 of the IT Act, which allows intermediaries to avoid liabilities for what third parties post on their websites. By threatening to remove a platform’s immunity for content that is flagged by a government unit, it is clear that the Union government intends to create a “chilling effect” on the right to speech and expression on online platforms. The government being the arbiter on what constitutes “false” or “fake” news and having the power to act upon platforms for publishing these will amount to draconian censorship.