ABSTRACT
Apar Gupta, Executive Director, Internet Freedom Foundation, is a lawyer who is an expert on digital rights and online freedom. In this interview he argues that the Supreme Court direction that media should report the government's version on the pandemic is of grave concern for press freedom. The court ruled that media organisations are required to defer to the government version on the pandemic, and blamed “fake news” for recent migration from the country's cities, according to reports. The Supreme Court order is of grave concern to press freedom, which has already come under increased challenges during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. The fundamental premise of this direction arises from a submission by the government that it was fake news that led a large number of migrant labourers who wanted to return to their homes in far and distant villages.
