The Bombay High Court struck down the 2023 IT Rules amendments, which gave the government authority to establish Fact Check Units (FCUs).

The Bombay High Court has declared the amended IT Rules, which aimed to identify fake content against the government on social media, unconstitutional. Justice A S Chandurkar ruled that the rules violated constitutional rights and were vague.

The tiebreaker judge noted that the provisions empowered the government to decide what constitutes “false” or “fake” news without clear definitions

The division bench in January had delivered a split verdict on the petitions challenging the amended IT rules. Due to the split verdict, the case was assigned to Justice Chandurkar as a 'tie-breaker j

The case was then placed before Justice Chandurkar, a third judge in February 2024, by the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. In March 2024, the Supreme Court stayed the government notification establishing the FCU.

The expression "fake, false and misleading" in the rules was "vague and hence wrong" in the absence of any definition, the judge said