The Centre’s notification to establish a fact-checking unit under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to detect false information regarding the Union government was stayed by the Supreme Court on Thursday.

In accordance with Information Technology Rules, 2021, the Ministry of Electronics and IT notified the Fact Check Unit on March 20.

The Bombay High Court’s order from March 11 was overturned by a bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.

The notification came days after the Bombay High Court declined to restrain the Centre from notifying the unit. The petition was filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild of India.

According to the new regulations, the fact check unit would notify the social media intermediaries of any posts it finds or learns about that are “fake,” “false,” or contain “misleading” facts about government business. In order to maintain their “safe harbour”—a legal shield against content created by third parties—the online intermediaries would then need to remove such content.