In recent years, the flow of news and views on social media and online platforms has increased a lot. Crores of people are watching it. In such a situation, many people are telling the new fact check body of the government as censorship. Know what problems can come from this.
Image Credit source: Social Media
As soon as the Central Government’s Ministry of Electronics and IT fact check body Announced to make, the opposition parties once again targeted it by calling it censorship. Although it is being said repeatedly by the government that this is a step taken towards stopping fake news. But neither the opposition nor the independent media persons are considering it in the interest of expression. Although the Central IT Rajiv Chandrashekhar Has told that the fact check body of the government is to monitor social media platforms like Google, Facebook and Twitter.
Significantly, despite all the criticisms and concerns, the IT Ministry has decided to create a fact check regulatory system through amendments in the Information Technology Rules, 2021. Through this, the central government will try to check whether the information given on any online medium is accurate or not.
What does the rule say?
If the regulator finds in a fact check that the relevant information is false or misleading, then it has to be removed. Failure to do so may result in a ban. Social media sites will have to remove such posts and internet service providers will have to block URLs of such content through which misinformation has been spread.
controversial proposal
There was a lot of criticism of this proposal earlier. The Editors Guild of India had also said that ‘the determination of fake news cannot be in the hands of the government alone and this would lead to censorship of the press. News Broadcasters and Digital Association also said that it will have a bad effect on the media. It should be withdrawn.
What are the concerns with the new rules?
Indian Express has prepared a report regarding this question. In this report, some independent organizations say that these rules can hinder the online media network. Delhi-based digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation said in a statement that the notification of these amended rules affects the fundamental right of expression.
According to him, this will have a bad effect on the work of entrepreneurs, journalists, activists etc., especially in the news world. People will not be able to work with freedom. They will have to take the risk of researching and disseminating it.
What is the intention of the government behind the rule?
Online media experts are constantly raising questions about the new rule of the government. They say that the government wants to do arbitrariness through this. Experts say that whatever is against the government can be called fake. This is the intention of the government. Because in recent times other online media is raising questions on the policies of the government, now the government wants to stop that too.
What did the Center say on the concerns related to censorship?
However, the government has termed the concerns and criticisms of the opposition parties and entrepreneurs of social media or online networks as baseless. Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar has assured that the government will work in a credible manner to address these concerns.
He said that we inform all the agencies. People should not have any doubt in their mind that power will be misused by the government. I assure you that it will be a government department organization. We want to verify facts in a credible manner. This is not only for the government but also for those who need to investigate any fact.
Source: www.tv9hindi.com”