SC has put a stay on the notification of the Central Government to establish FCU, a fact checking unit being set up by the government to identify fake content on the internet media. The court said that this case involves big constitutional questions related to the freedom of expression of citizens. It is important to consider these first.
The Supreme Court imposed this ban while hearing the petition filed by standup comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild. Actually, the government had issued a notification to the FCU unit, according to the amendment in the rules under this, such information related to the central government which the FCU unit finds fake will have to be removed from the social media platform. Otherwise he will have to face legal action. The petitioners had earlier filed a petition in this regard in the Bombay High Court, after the High Court refused to stay the amendment, the petitioners approached the Supreme Court.
Bombay High Court had rejected the petition
Kunal Kamra and other petitioners had sought a stay on the formation of FCU till the final decision in the case is taken in the Bombay High Court, but the High Court rejected the petition for stay. This decision was given by the division bench of Justice GS Patel and Neela Gokhale on 31st. After this the petitioners filed a petition before the Supreme Court.
This is Kunal Kamra's argument
According to Kunal Kamra's petition, the IT rules target middlemen, effectively it is the users who are affected. Kamra's petition states that these units would give social media companies the power to remove any content that the government considers fake, false or misleading, but without due process. Under the rules, arbitrary action will be taken against the content identified by the telecom service provider and social media intermediary FCU. The petition on behalf of Kunal Kamra has argued that the units will be able to suppress political speech and deprive citizens of their right to information. On this basis, the court has banned the notification of FCU.
Source: www.tv9hindi.com”