Ashwini Vaishnaw on NRI Fact Checking Unit

New Delhi: The Centre is best placed to determine whether a particular fact related to it is correct or not, Chief Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday, making the government’s stand on the PIB Fact Verification Unit clear.

He was responding to a supplementary question raised during Question Time in Rajya Sabha regarding the Supreme Court staying the Centre’s notification to set up a fact-checking unit.

“The amendment in the IT intermediary rules, which was stayed by the Supreme Court, is still a matter of contention, but the basic principle is that in our view, whatever is related to the Government of India, only the Government can say whether it is a correct fact or a wrong fact. That is our position,” said Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

In March this year, the Supreme Court had stayed the execution of the Centre’s notification to set up a fact-checking unit under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to detect fake news about the federal government.

The Fact Verification 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 DY Chandrachud set aside the March 11 order of the Bombay High Court, which had refused to grant an interim stay on the operation of the order to set up an FCU under the amended information technology rules to identify fake and untrue content on social media about the federal government.

Replying to another supplementary question, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan said the central government had no plans to set up regional fact-checking units under the National Research Institute.

Talking about instances of misinformation being spread (without naming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee), Murugan cited the example of the Chief Minister who recently came to Delhi to attend a meeting of the government think tank Niti Aayog and found her microphone switched off, a statement she called “misleading”.

“Last week, the Prime Minister also came to Delhi to attend a meeting of NITI Aayog. In that meeting, she mentioned that her microphone was switched off. But we had a problem that the statement was misleading,” the minister said.

He explained, however, that the Centre does not plan to establish regional fact-checking units.

“We do not plan to establish fact-checking units at the regional level.

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

When a member of parliament demanded that the minister prove his claim that fake news cases are highest in West Bengal, the minister agreed to back up his claim with data.

In November 2019, the Fact Checking Unit (FCU) was established under the Press Information Office of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to counter fake news regarding the central government. After verifying the authenticity of news from authorized sources in ministries/departments, the FCU publishes correct information on its social media platforms.

The PIB, which comes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has its headquarters in New Delhi and has 5 zones comprising 19 regional offices in different states.

The regional office in Kolkata is located in the Eastern Zone and currently employs 18 permanent employees and 1 contract employee.