The Latest Breaking News from PIB

The government’s fact checking body under the Press Information Bureau has taken action in 28,380 instances involving “fake news” on digital platforms between November 2020 and June this year, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said today in response to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha. 

After newspapers, press groups, and opposition leaders criticised the central government’s recent amendment to the IT Rules 2021, journalists joined the chorus, describing the amendment as “censorship”.

In January, Newslaundry had reported on a newly proposed amendment to the IT Rules, 2021 by which content deemed “fake” by the government’s fact-checking unit will have to be taken down by social media platforms. 

A week after proposing that the Press Information Bureau will be the arbiter of “fake news” in India, the government has said it will first hold a “separate consultation” before the proposal is implemented.

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 Editors Guild of India has expressed concern over a proposed amendment which will ensure that all intermediaries, including social media platforms, do not allow any content identified as “false” by the Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check Unit.

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, according to a newly proposed amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code)…

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has directed YouTube to take down three channels for allegedly making fake claims. 

Last Thursday, the union ministry of power’s Twitter account broke its pattern of updates – about meetings chaired by the minister, press releases, and inaugurations – to put out a series of unusual tweets tagging a journalist covering the energy sector.

Thiruvananthapuram

Deccan Herald was pulled up by principal director of the Press Information Bureau, Jaideep Bhatnagar, after the English daily criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies.