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PIB Fact Check Unit: Supreme Court has banned PIB Fact Check Unit. A notification was issued by the Central Government on Wednesday regarding the PIB Fact Check Unit. After this the matter reached the Supreme Court, where today (Thursday) the Supreme Court banned the Fact Check Unit (FCU). Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. The bench of Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra said, 'Freedom of expression is under threat.'
A demand was made to the Supreme Court to ban the notification
The Supreme Court heard the petition of stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild challenging the new IT rules of the Central Government. The petition sought to stay the notification of the Central Government to set up the Fact Check Unit (FCU) under the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023 passed by the Central Government. Under the IT Amendment Rules 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Central Government may create an investigative body which will have the power to identify and tag false or fake online news in relation to any activity.
The petition said, 'The fact check unit will force social media companies to impose censorship on online content about the central government. The Bombay High Court rejected the petition on 11 March. After this, now the petitioners have challenged the decision of the High Court in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court bench said, 'We are of the view that prima facie a case is made out for banning the implementation of these rules.'
Central government created a fact check unit
The Central Government had established the Fact Checking Unit (FCU) to identify fake content on the internet media. According to the amendment in the IT rules, social media platforms will have to remove any information related to the central government that the fact check unit finds fake, otherwise they will have to face legal action. The fact check unit was notified by the Center under the IT Rules, 2021.