Express View on Karnataka's draft bill on fake news: Don't make it law
India has approximately 700 million smartphone users, and Karnataka is among the states with the highest internet penetration. Can the proposed Authority mine and analyse the vast amounts of data on social media while ensuring that no citizen's right to free speech is violated? More importantly, even if it could, should it? 'Fake news' is defined by the Bill as false or inaccurate reporting, editing that distorts facts and purely fabricated content. Misinformation is 'knowingly' or 'recklessly' spreading falsehoods, with exceptions for religious sermons, satire, and 'artistic expression'. Evidently, the government of Karnataka, not satisfied with setting itself up as the arbiter of Truth, seeks to define Art as well. It also wishes to prosecute what it deems as going against 'feminism' and 'Sanatan Dharma'. The Bill compounds the sin of loosely worded and vague provisions with harsh punishment: Offenders face fines up to Rs 10 lakh, seven years' imprisonment or both. It flies in the face of the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court's judgment in the Shreya Singhal (2013) case and the Bombay High Court verdict on the Centre's IT Rules in 2024, both of which warned against the dangers of ill-defined legal provisions encroaching on free speech.
India already has laws on defamation and for protecting 'hurt sentiments', which are often weaponised by governments to curb fundamental freedoms. Karnataka's capital is a hub of innovation, and of a start-up culture that has the potential to propel the state's and the country's economy forward. The government must recognise that innovation and censorship do not go together. Fifty years after the Emergency, the lesson on the dangers of state excess and overreach should have been internalised by Congress governments, including in Karnataka. As Justice Gautam Patel noted in the Bombay HC's 2024 verdict, 'Every attempt to whittle down a fundamental right must be resisted root and branch.' Misinformation and fake news are indeed problems of the present and future. Addressing them requires digital literacy, which involves going to schools to ensure that the next generation is equipped to sift fact from falsehood. Such programmes require finesse, time and the right intent. Not a draconian law — the Bill needs to be binned.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
30 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Parliament is not museum: Cong's Manickam Tagore slams govt over nameplate
Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Thursday strongly criticised the central government, accusing it of bypassing parliamentary procedure and undermining democratic norms, shortly after the Parliamentary Affairs Minister installed a nameplate on the new Parliament building. In a post on X, Tagore aimed at PM Modi and said, "Parliament is not a museum, Mr. Modi. It's where democracy speaks. Let it." "Good that the Parliamentary Affairs Minister finally put a board saying 'Parliament' on the new building. At least now we can be sure which building the government has been avoiding all this while," he further wrote in a post. He referred to a letter signed by 240 MPs, a majority in the Lok Sabha, demanding a special session to discuss the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, and criticised the government for not responding. "When 240 MPs--a majority in the Lok Sabha--wrote to the PM demanding a session to discuss Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor, the government responded with... silence. First time in history such a large democratic request was ignored. What's next, ignoring elections?" Tagore asked. "Strong words. And our PM? Still on silent mode," he wrote in a post. Furthermore, he stated, "So we have: A Parliament with a nameplate. No respect for MPs' demands. No statement on foreign leaders claiming to pressure India." Although the government has announced the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Congress leader pointed out the absence of any response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding US President Donald Trump's claim that he made 14 calls to Modi and allegedly "threatened" him into a ceasefire. The upcoming Monsoon session will be the first Parliament session following Operation Sindoor, which was launched by India on May 7 in response to a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives. The Budget session of Parliament began on January 31 this year. The Budget Session saw the passage of significant legislation, including the Waqf Amendment Bill. There will be no Parliament sittings on August 13 and 14 due to Independence Day celebrations. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Indian Express
30 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
'MAGA IS NOT HAPPY': Trump's tax bill stalled by GOP rebellion in US Congress
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's signature tax and spending bill was in limbo early Thursday as Republican leaders in the US Congress scrambled to win over a group of rebels threatening to torpedo the centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda. Trump is seeking final approval in the House of Representatives for his Senate-passed "One Big Beautiful Bill" -- but faces opposition on all sides of his fractious party over provisions set to balloon the national debt while launching a historic assault on the social safety net. As midnight (0400 GMT) struck, House Speaker Mike Johnson was still holding open a key procedural vote -- the bill's last hurdle before it can advance to be considered for final approval -- more than two hours after it was first called. With no clear sign of the stalemate breaking, his lieutenants huddled in tense meetings behind the scenes with the rebels who had either voted no or had yet to come to the House floor. "We're going to get there tonight. We're working on it and very, very positive about our progress," Johnson told reporters at the Capitol, according to Politico. Originally approved by the House in May, Trump's sprawling legislation squeezed through the Senate on Tuesday by a solitary vote but had to return to the lower chamber Wednesday for a rubber stamp of the Senate's revisions.
Time of India
35 minutes ago
- Time of India
Telephone tapping constitutes a violation of right to privacy: Madras HC
The Madras High Court on Wednesday held that telephone tapping constitutes a violation of the right to privacy unless justified by a procedure established by law. Justice N Anand Venkatesh also observed that the right to privacy is now an integral part of the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. The judge said section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act authorises interception of telephones on the occurrence of a public emergency or in the interests of public safety. Both these contingencies were not secretive conditions or situations. Either of the situations would be apparent to a reasonable person. As laid down in paragraph 28 of the decision of the Apex court in People's Union for Civil Liberties, it was only when the above two situations exist that the authority may pass an order directing interception of messages after recording its satisfaction that it was necessary or expedient so to do in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence, he added. Allowing a petition filed by P Kishore, Managing Director of Everonn Education Limited, the judge quashed an order of the union government, which authorised tapping of the mobile phone of the petitioner, in connection with a case relating to bribery and corruption, probed by the CBI, involving an Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax. The judge said in the instant case, the impugned order dated August 12, 2011 does not fall either within the rubric of "public emergency" or "in the interests of public safety" as explained by the Supreme Court in the case of People's Union for Civil Liberties. The facts disclose that it was a covert operation/secretive situation for detection of crime, which would not be apparent to any reasonable person. As the law presently stands, a situation of this nature does not fall within the four corners of Section 5(2) of the Act as expounded by the Supreme Court in the case of People's Union for Civil Liberties, which has been approved by the Constitution Bench of the SC in K S Puttaswamy case, the judge added. The judge said the authorities have also contravened Rule 419-A(17) of the Telegraph Rules by failing to place the intercepted material before the Review Committee within the stipulated time to examine as to whether the interception was made in compliance with Section 5(2) of the Act. As a consequence, the impugned order must necessarily be set aside as unconstitutional and one without jurisdiction. Besides violating Article 21, it was also ultra vires Section 5(2) of the Act besides being in violation of the mandatory provisions of Rule 419-A of the Rules, the judge added. The judge said it follows that the intercepted conversations collected pursuant to the impugned order in violation of Section 5(2) of the Act and Rule 419-A(17) of the Rules shall not be used for any purposes whatsoever. The judge said it was, however, made clear that the above direction shall have no bearing on the other material that has been collected by the CBI subsequent to and independent of the intercepted call records, which shall be considered by the trial court on its own merits without being influenced by any of the observations made in this order.
