India: Closed consultation on Amendment to the IT (Intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 including content moderation requirements

On 20 February 2023, the public consultation closed on the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) proposed Amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules). The MeitY extended the deadline for submitting comments from 25 January 2023 to 20 February 2023. In particular, the MeitY proposed an Amendment to the social media and other intermediaries' obligations in regard to the distribution of information that the Government classifies as "false", "untrue", or "misleading", outlined in section 3(1)(b)(v) of IT Rules. Under the proposed Amendment, social media platforms and other intermediaries will be required to make efforts not to display and discourage their users from posting, transmitting, sharing and updating information that is classified as "false", "untrue", or "misleading" by the Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau. Furthermore, the proposed Amendment states that platforms will be required to moderate the content classified as false about the Government. Finally, the proposed Amendment allows for the expansion of the list of agencies that would be authorised to conduct fact-checking.