The Indian government isn't trying to "retrofit" any "particular organisation" into fact-checking online information as false, said Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar to The Indian Express. The government is also open to considering a self-regulatory body that'll certify "trusted" fact-checkers, the Minister added. Chandrasekhar was speaking on the government's latest proposal to outlaw platforms from hosting information fact-checked to be "fake" or "false" by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) or any other authorised government agency. “..We believe it is necessary to have some way of creating trusted fact-checkers in the system to help in the issue of online misinformation," said Chandrasekhar, reported the Express. "Maybe like in the case of online gaming, it could be done through a self-regulatory body. During the consultation process, if somebody shows that they have a self regulatory model that will, in a sense, certify trusted fact-checkers, we are happy to have that.” Why it matters: The PIB proposal was a response to the "large number" of social media platforms asking the government for a standard fact-checking framework, said the junior IT Minister. "This will recognise credible and trusted fact-checkers so that there is no dispute over which fact-checker is right." However, introduced through an amendment to India's IT Rules, 2021, the proposal contains no mention of any actual fact-checking framework, or of using any fact-checkers outside the government to fact-check misinformation. Safeguards to protect government fact-checking from bias are also missing. It's no wonder that civil society and media groups have panned the…
