India says new IT fact-checking unit will not censor journalism
Commuters watch videos on their mobile phones as they travel in a suburban train in Mumbai, India on April 2, 2016.
PHOTO: Reuters
PUBLISHED ONApril 17, 2023 1:45 AM
NEW DELHI - A proposed Indian government unit to fact-check news on social media is not about censoring journalism nor will it have any impact on media reportage, a federal minister said on Friday (April 14).
Recently amended IT regulation requires online platforms like Meta Platforms Inc's Facebook and Twitter to "make reasonable efforts" to not "publish, share or host" any information relating to the government that is "fake, false or misleading".
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India minister of state for IT, said in an online discussion it was "not true" that the government-appointed unit, which press freedom advocates strongly oppose, was aimed at "censoring journalism".
The Editors Guild of India last week described the move as draconian and akin to censorship.
ALSO READ: Indian editors decry government move to police online news