The Supreme Court stayed the operation of the amended Information Technology (IT) Rules.
This rule empowered the government to identify “fake news” on social media platforms through a “Fact Check Unit” (FCU).
The Union Electronics and IT Ministry had notified the FCU as a statutory body under the Press Information Bureau.
It has a power to flag what it believes is false information related to the central government and its agencies on social media sites.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court held that the “state cannot coercively classify speech as true or false and compel the non-publication of the latter.
It is argued that, these rules violative of Article 14, Article 19(1)(a) and (g), and Article 21 of the Constitution, and Section 79 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act).