Only Centre can validate facts related to it, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

The Centre is best suited to determine whether a particular fact related to it is correct or wrong, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday while making the government's stand clear on the PIB's Fact Check Unit.

He was replying to a supplementary query during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha related to the Supreme Court's stay on the Centre's notification on setting up a fact-checking unit.

"The amendment in the IT Intermediary Rules which has been stayed by the Supreme Court, that is still under contest but the fundamental principle is, our point is, anything related to the government of India, only the government can say whether it is a correct fact or a wrong fact. That is our stand," Vaishnaw, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, said.

The Supreme Court in March this year stayed the Centre's notification on setting up a fact-checking unit under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to identify fake news about the Union government.

The Fact Check Unit was notified on March 20 under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, by the Ministry of Electronics and IT.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud set aside the March 11 order of the Bombay High Court which had refused to grant interim stay on setting up the FCU under the amended IT Rules to identify fake and false content on social media about the Union government.

Replying to another supplementary question, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan said the Centre has no plans to establish regional fact checking units under the PIB.

While speaking on incidents of factually incorrect information being circulated, without naming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Murugan cited the example of a chief minister who recently came to Delhi to attend government think tank Niti Aayog's meeting and claimed that her microphone was switched off, terming the statement "misleading".

"Last week also a chief minister came here in Delhi to attend a NITI Aayog meeting. In that meeting she mentioned that her mike was switched off. But we had an issue that this statement is misleading," said the minister.

However, he clarified that the Centre does not have plans to establish regional fact checking units.

"We don't have a plan to establish fact check units at the regional level.

The Fact Check Unit is in Delhi. We have a very good system here," Murugan said.

When the minister was challenged to prove by a member his statement that incidents of fake news are most rampant in West Bengal, he agreed to authenticate his claim with data.

A Fact Check Unit (FCU) has been set up under Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in November, 2019 to counter fake news relating to the central government. After verifying the authenticity of news from authorised sources in ministries/departments, FCU posts correct information on its social media platforms.

PIB under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has its headquarters at New Delhi and 5 zones comprising 19 regional offices in various states.

The regional office at Kolkata comes under East Zone and at present has 18 permanent employees and 1 contractual employee.