A large rally of Indian journalists has urged the government to reject proposals to regulate fake news on social media, arguing that changes to the country’s information technology regulations would amount to censorship.
The proposal would ban social media platforms from hosting any information authorities deem to be fake news, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s latest move to curb tech giants.
News deemed “false or misleading” by the Press Information Bureau or other agencies authorized to carry out fact-checking by the government will be barred from circulation under the draft amendment released on Tuesday (1/17) .
The Editors Guild of India, in its statement on Wednesday evening (18/1), urged the government to drop the proposal and start “meaningful consultations” with stakeholders to discuss the digital media regulatory framework .
By stating that “the determination of fake news [atau bukan] should not be dictated solely by the government,” the association warned that the amendments would “facilitate efforts to suppress the free press” and “force online intermediaries to remove content that the government deems problematic.”
“This proposal will stifle legitimate criticism of the government and will have serious repercussions on the ability of the press to hold governments to account, which play an important role in a democracy,” he said. [rd/jm]
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