SC agrees to examine Centre's plea against HC verdict striking down IT rules

NEW DELHI: (Mar 10) The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine the Centre's plea challenging a Bombay High Court verdict that struck down amendments to Information Technology Rules aimed at regulating fake and false content posted on social media against the government.

The top court did not stay the 2024 High Court verdict, which struck down the amended Information Technology Rules and termed them "unconstitutional", even as a three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the original petitioners, including stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, the Editors Guild of India, and the Association of Indian Magazines.

The High Court struck down the rules amended in 2023 to empower the central government to establish a Fact-Check Unit (FCU) to identify "fake, false, or misleading" information regarding "government business" on social media. If the FCU flagged content under those rules, social media intermediaries such as X, Facebook, or YouTube would have to take it down or risk losing their safe harbour immunity.