NEW DELHI: The Bombay high court on Friday struck down the amended Information Technology (IT) Rules, which proposed action against fake content about the government, calling it “unconstitutional”.
The decision was delivered by ‘tie-breaker judge’ Justice AS Chandurkar, who was appointed as the third judge after a split verdict by a division bench in January 2023.
“I have considered the matter extensively. The impugned rules are violative of Article 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression) and 19(1)(g) (freedom and right to profession) of the Constitution of India,” the judge said.
The expression “fake, false and misleading” in the Rules was “vague and hence wrong” in the absence of an definition, he added.
The petitions were referred to Justice Chandurkar after a division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale delivered a split verdict in January, with Justice Patel striking down the Rules and Justice Gokhale upholding them.
The IT Amendment Rules, 2023, introduced changes to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. A key provision under Rule 3 empowered the central government to establish Fact-Check Units (FCUs) tasked with identifying false or fake news about the government circulating on social media and online platforms.
On April 6, 2023, the Union government promulgated amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which included a provision for an FCU to flag fake, false, or misleading online content related to the government. Under these rules, if the FCU identifies any posts that are fake, false, or contain misleading facts about the government’s business, it would flag them to social media intermediaries. The intermediary then has the option to either take down the post or put a disclaimer on it. By choosing the second option, the intermediary loses its safe harbour and becomes liable for legal action.
The decision was delivered by ‘tie-breaker judge’ Justice AS Chandurkar, who was appointed as the third judge after a split verdict by a division bench in January 2023.
“I have considered the matter extensively. The impugned rules are violative of Article 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression) and 19(1)(g) (freedom and right to profession) of the Constitution of India,” the judge said.
The expression “fake, false and misleading” in the Rules was “vague and hence wrong” in the absence of an definition, he added.
The petitions were referred to Justice Chandurkar after a division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale delivered a split verdict in January, with Justice Patel striking down the Rules and Justice Gokhale upholding them.
The IT Amendment Rules, 2023, introduced changes to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. A key provision under Rule 3 empowered the central government to establish Fact-Check Units (FCUs) tasked with identifying false or fake news about the government circulating on social media and online platforms.
On April 6, 2023, the Union government promulgated amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which included a provision for an FCU to flag fake, false, or misleading online content related to the government. Under these rules, if the FCU identifies any posts that are fake, false, or contain misleading facts about the government’s business, it would flag them to social media intermediaries. The intermediary then has the option to either take down the post or put a disclaimer on it. By choosing the second option, the intermediary loses its safe harbour and becomes liable for legal action.