NEW DELHI, April 14 (Reuters) – A proposed Indian authorities unit to fact-check information on social media shouldn’t be about censoring journalism nor will it have any influence on media reportage, a federal minister mentioned on Friday.

Recently amended IT regulation requires on-line platforms like Meta Platforms Inc’s (META.O) Facebook and Twitter to “make reasonable efforts” to not “publish, share or host” any info regarding the federal government that’s “fake, false or misleading”.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India minister of state for IT, mentioned in an internet dialogue it was “not true” that the government-appointed unit, which press freedom advocates strongly oppose, was aimed toward “censoring journalism”.

The Editors Guild of India final week described the transfer as draconian and akin to censorship.

Reporting by Shivam Patel, Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Richard Chang

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