New Delhi: The Asia Internet Coalition – comprising companies like Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon among others – has said that the new IT Rules introduced by the Narendra Modi government will “profoundly infringe on press freedom.”The amendment which was formally brought on April 6, allows a government-established “fact-check unit” to take down any “fake or false or misleading”, with respect to “any business of the Central Government”.Various press bodies, including the Indian Newspaper Society and the Editors Guild of India, have expressed deep concern over the legislation and its impact on the free press.The rules, officially called the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 (IT Amendment Rules, 2023), are also being challenged by comedian Kunal Kamra in court.In its statement on April 17, which the online portal MediaNama has reported on, the Asia Internet Coalition has noted with concern that the “IT Rules amendments grant the Indian government broad content takedown power without providing sufficient proceduralsafeguards to remove content and protect people’s fundamental rights to access information.”The recent amendments to India's IT Rules grant the Indian government broad content takedown power without providing sufficient procedural safeguards to remove content and protect people’s fundamental rights to access information.— Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) (@asia_aic) April 21, 2023The statement, attributed to Jeff Paine, the AIC managing director, the group said, “Using a government agency such asthe Press Information Bureau as the sole source to fact-check government business without giving it a clear definition or providing clear checks and balances, may lead to misuse during implementation of the law, which will profoundly infringe on press freedom.”While an earlier version of the amended Rules did mention that the Press Information Bureau would act as the fact-checking unit, the final version has a non-PIB “official” unit tasked with fact-checking. While that too will be a government-established unit, it is not the PIB that will be performing fact-checking functions.“Instead of prescriptive legislation, governments should host industry-wide consultations and also consider voluntary mechanisms to protect the benefits of the internet and keep people safe from harm,” Paine added.