NEW DELHI, March 25 -- Upholding the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression and nullifying the Union government's attempt to censor news and views on social media sites it considers false, the Supreme Court on Thursday, March 21, stayed the operation of the Union government's notification of a Fact Checking Unit (FCU). The Supreme Court also set aside the March 11 order of the Bombay High Court, which had refused to grant an interim stay on setting up of the FCU under the amended IT rules to identify "fake" and "false" content on social media about the Union government and its agencies.

The stay will remain until the Bombay High Court decides on petitions challenging the 2023 amendments to the Information Technology rules....