Govt To Work With Tech Majors To Create Framework For ‘Trusted Fact Checkers’

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will reportedly work with internet intermediaries like Google and Meta to create a framework for “trusted fact checkers”.

The ministry held a meeting with representatives of companies like Google, Meta and Koo on Thursday on the issue, Business Standard reported. The tech companies also deliberated on the various aspects of fact-checking of content on their platforms.

The government aims to address concerns over deepfake videos and AI generated misinformation through the fact-check mechanism. It will address this through a “self-regulatory process” in collaboration with intermediaries and fact-checking agencies.

“Many intermediaries are facing difficulties identifying and fact-checking information on their platforms. Currently, most of the platforms rely on fact checkers certified by organisations like the Internet Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). So the meeting was held to discuss how we can create trusted fact checkers in India, given the dangers of misinformation arising with the use of emerging technologies,” a person aware of the development was quoted as saying.

Last month, MeitY proposed new amendments to the IT Rules, 2021, which will require social media intermediaries to remove content flagged as fake or false by the central government’s fact-checking mechanisms.

As per the draft amendments, intermediaries will have to make reasonable efforts to cause the user not to host, display, upload, modify, transit, or publish any message that has been “identified as fake or false by the fact check unit at the Press Information Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting or other agency authorised by the Central Government for fact-checking or, in respect of any business of the Central Government, by its department in which such business is transacted under the rules of business”.

However, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar later said that the government is open to phrasing the proposed removal of ‘fake’ of ‘false’ content in an alternate language.

Identifying online misinformation is the core motive behind proposing a fact check mechanism through the Press Information Bureau (PIB), he said.

The IT Rules, 2021 prescribe a framework for content regulation by online publishers of news, curated audio-visual content, social media intermediaries, among others.

The government has released multiple amendments to the IT Rules from time-to-time to better regulate the platforms in its attempt to make the “internet open, safe, and trusted”.