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The Bombay High Court has officially struck down the amended Information Technology Rules that aimed to identify and regulate false content on social media, declaring them “unconstitutional.” This decision came from a division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Neela Gokhale, following petitions from stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, the Editors Guild of India, and other organizations.
Earlier, on September 20, Justice AS Chandurkar highlighted that the amended rules were vague and could discourage free speech, agreeing with a previous split verdict from earlier this year. In that earlier ruling, Justice Gautam Patel argued that the rules amounted to censorship, while Justice Neela Gokhale disagreed, saying they didn’t significantly impact free speech.
In the latest ruling, the court stated, “In view of the majority opinion, Rule 3 (1) (V) is declared unconstitutional and is struck down.” This means that the rules cannot be enforced.
A major point of contention was the proposed Fact Checking Unit (FCU), which was set up to monitor online content and flag anything considered misleading about the government. The court found that these rules could have a chilling effect on citizens’ rights.
The controversial amendments were introduced by the Union government on April 6, 2023, as part of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The rules required social media intermediaries to act on flagged content, risking legal trouble if they didn’t comply.
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