The Supreme Court today put a hold on the PIB (Press Information Bureau)’s Fact Check Unit (FCU).

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra termed the unit as ‘a threat to freedom of expression’.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild, challenging the new IT rules of the Central government.

The petition sought a ban on the Central government’s notification to create FCUs under the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023, passed by the Central Government.

Under the IT Amendment Rules 2023, the union government’s ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) can create an investigative body, which will have the power to identify and tag false or fake online news in relation to any activity.

The petition said that the FCU will force social media companies to implement censorship of online content about the central government. 

The Bombay High Court had earlier dismissed the petition. The SC bench said, “We are of the view that prima facie there is a case for prohibiting the enforcement of these rules.”

The Central Government had set up a Fact Checking Unit (FCU) to identify fake content on the Internet media. According to the amendment in IT rules, social media platforms had to remove any information related to the central government that the fact check unit found to be fake or face legal action.