*

Karnataka's draft legislation proposes up to 7 years jail

for

spreading misinformation

*

Free speech advocates warn of selective enforcement, risk

of

censorship

*

Karnataka bill stricter than national legislation on

social

media

*

High stakes in country where fake news can risk stirring

deadly communal strife

By Munsif Vengattil

BENGALURU, June 30 (Reuters) - Draft legislation by

India's tech hub state of Karnataka that would impose jail terms

of up to seven years for spreading "fake news" and other

misinformation has stirred concerns among free speech activists

that it could lead to censorship.

With nearly 1 billion internet users, the stakes are high in a

sprawling country of many ethnic and religious communities where

fake news risks stirring deadly strife and AI deepfake videos

have alarmed officials during elections.

India's federal government already regulates social media

content with legislation empowering it to order takedowns of

disputed content. But some states such as Karnataka have begun

taking their own measures.

Karnataka's bill, the strictest of its kind yet, stipulates

that those posting "fake news" and "anti-feminist" content, or

"promoting superstition", would face imprisonment along with

potential fines.

The 11-page Karnataka Mis-Information And Fake News

(Prohibition) Bill does not define such offences in practice,

but said special courts and a regulatory committee would be set

up to implement it.

Free speech advocates have cited what they say would be the

risk of selective enforcement arising from Karnataka's measure

and flagged concerns that people posting memes or making honest

mistakes online could be prosecuted.

"Misinformation is fairly subjective and every person who

uses the internet is susceptible to falling within the

dragnet of this law," said Apar Gupta, founder of the Internet

Freedom Foundation, a New Delhi-based digital advocacy group

which first made the Karnataka draft legislation public.

The state government of Karnataka, home to the city of

Bengaluru that hosts the offices or branches of many Indian and

foreign tech giants, has said the bill will be released for

public consultation before implementation.

Priyank Kharge, Karnataka's IT minister, said on Friday

"there is a lot of misinformation on the proposed Misinformation

Bill in public". He later added that the "sole objective is to

address the growing digital information disorder" and the

government's focus was to tackle misinformation and fake news,

"and nothing beyond that".

He did not immediately respond to Reuters calls seeking

further comment on Monday.

Karnataka's move could risk creating multiple regulations

imposing conflicting obligations and regulatory challenges for

companies, said Aman Taneja, partner at law and

policy firm Ikigai.

Some Indian media have sharply criticised the draft bill.

The Deccan Herald newspaper on Monday titled an opinion

piece "A remedy that's worse than the menace", saying the

Karnataka government should "do away with the criminal

provisions" in the legislation.

India has over the years held

talks

with U.S. tech giants like Google it sees as having been

slow to remove fake news posts, and New Delhi in 2019 set up a

"Fact Check Unit" to debunk what it sees as misinformation.