The Bombay High Court on Thursday said that no matter how laudable or high the motives are while framing the new Information Technology (IT) Rules, if the effect of a rule or law is unconstitutional then it must go.
A division bench of justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by political satirist Kunal Kamra, the Editors Guild of India and the Association of Indian Magazine and regional channels challenging the constitutional validity of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023. The new Rules require social media intermediaries to censor or otherwise modify content that relates to the Central government if a government-mandated fact checking unit (FCU) directs them to do so.
