Editor’s Guild: New rules make it easier to muzzle free press

The Guild has urged the Ministry of Electronics and IT to expunge the new amendment. representation pic

The Editors Guild of India on Wednesday urged the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) to expunge the draft amendment to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, according to which online platforms will have to remove any news flagged as fake by the PIB.

MeitY uploaded the draft of new amendments on Tuesday. Any government-authorised fact-checking agency can flag a news piece as fake and internet service providers will have to disable the link, according to a report in the Indian Express.

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The Guild, in a press release, said the "amendment...gives authority to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to determine the veracity of news reports..."
"...determination of fake news can't be in the sole hands of the government and will result in the censorship of the press... This new procedure basically serves to make it easier to muzzle the free press'..."

"Further, the words ‘in respect of any business of the central government' seems to give the government a carte blanche to determine what is fake or not with respect to its own work," it said, urging the ministry to "expunge this new amendment".

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