The Bombay High Court has sought the centre’s response over an affidavit filed by comedian Kunal Kamra against the amended IT Rules that empower the government to identify “fake news” about itself on social media.
The amendment, notified on April 6, says social media companies and other intermediaries must take down content deemed fake by a government fact-check unit. To be precise, intermediaries are not permitted to “host, display, upload, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information in respect to any business of the central government that is identified as fake or false or misleading by such fact-check unit”. Intermediaries that don’t comply will lose their “safe harbour” protection in India.
