Page 18 - Amendment Rules News Today

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said amendments to rules relating to detection of fake and fake news are under consultative process but a lot of | BLiTZ

Editors Guild asks govt to hold consultations with media organisations and press bodies, as it had promised in Jan

Editors Guild deeply disturbed by amended IT Rules, says will hit press freedom

The Editors Guild of India on Friday said it was "deeply disturbed" by the "draconian" amendments to the Information Technology Rules.

In a notice issued on Friday, the guild stated that the amendments granted the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) the power to establish a "fact checking unit" with sweeping powers to determine what is false or misleading concerning any Central Government business.

The Guild urged the government to withdraw the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules and hold consultations with media organisations and press bodies, as it had promised earlier.

In its notice, the Editors Guild of India flagged that the new rules, which were notified by the MeitY on Thursday, failed to mention the governing mechanism for such a fact checking unit.

The Guild said there was no mention of the governing mechanism for such a fact-checking unit, the judicial oversight, or the right to appeal.

The Editors Guild of India on Friday said it was deeply disturbed by the draconian amendments to the Information Technology Rules that gave the government absolute power to determine fake news.

The statement also criticises and calls "surprising" the fact that the Union government notified this amendment 'without any meaningful consultation that it had promised' after it withdrew the earlier draft amendments it had put out in January 2023.