The IT ministry’s suggestion that the Press Information Bureau be the arbiter of what is “fake news” and what is not has received some amount of pushback from newspapers. Almost every leading newspaper in English carried the news item on its pages during the course of this week.
The ministry proposed an amendment to the IT Rules whereby all intermediaries, including social media platforms, will need to ensure that any news article identified as “fake or false” by the Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check Unit is not allowed on their platform.
