The government is considering making it mandatory for digital fact-checking platforms to seek a registration from the centre under the upcoming Digital India Bill, the Indian Express has reported.
According to a senior official quoted in the paper, it could be a phased process with legacy outlets being allowed to obtain registration in the first phase.
“The ministry is in the final stages of drafting the Bill. For fact checkers, there is a consideration that they should be registered with the government,” the official told the Indian Express. “There is also a plan to not register ‘non-legacy’ fact checking bodies.”
The Bill is likely to classify types of online intermediaries, including fact-checking portals, as the centre seeks to prescribe specific rules to different types of intermediaries, according to the report.
In January, a proposed amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, made it mandatory for all intermediaries, including social media platforms, 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.
However, the PIB’s Fact Check Unit is ostensibly not the best at its job.
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