"The IT Rules, 2023, grant the government arbitrary, overbroad, and unchecked censorship powers that threaten the rights to freedom of expression and opinion enshrined in the Indian Constitution and under international human rights law," says the statement issued by 17 digital and human rights organizations on May 2, 2023. The statement comes in response to the expansion of government control over online content under the IT Amendment Rules, 2023. According to the statement, these amended rules severely threaten the rights of journalists, writers, and human rights defenders to speak freely online. Under the amended rules, any government-related content that is fact-checked as false must be taken down by all online intermediaries (including social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook). If they fail to do so, they could end up losing their safe harbor protections (making them liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link hosted by them). Why it matters: By giving the Indian government power to decide what is factually accurate and what isn’t, these amendments provide them with disproportionate control over what can and cannot be said online. As per currently available information, there is no clarity on the mechanisms that would be followed to fact-check information under this amendment. Although the fact-checking authority that will be responsible for sifting through online content hasn’t been named yet, some expect the fact-checking would be handled by the Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) fact-check unit. This raises some concern since PIB has previously been unable to give clarity on its…
