On Saturday, the former minister of information technology Kapil Sibal slammed the government over the IT Amendment Rules’ fact-checking provisions, claiming that now the government would determine what is fake and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that democracy is not in danger. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, warned on Thursday that internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter risk losing their safe harbour status if they do not take down content that has been flagged as incorrect or misleading by a government-notified fact-checker. Sibal responded to the news by saying, “Now PIB will determine what is phoney and what is not and notify it. Online platforms will lose their immunity from prosecution if they choose to disregard.
