In a move to check fake news on social media platforms, the Karnataka government has decided to set up an oversight committee and a fact-check team to identify fake news and flag correct information on the government’s schemes and programmes to the people on public platforms.
Who on oversight panel
The government has proposed to set up an oversight committee comprising the head of the department of IT/BT, ADGP (Intelligence) ADGP (CID), representatives from Department of Information and Public Relations, and civil society, and an Additional Advocate General. The fact team would be given the responsibility of identifying fake news and conducting fact checks.
No new laws
IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge, who made a presentation on the framework of teams to be constituted to check dissemination of fake news, to media persons on Thursday, said the government will not frame the new law to check fake news on social media platforms. Legal action would be initiated under existing IT Act, Indian Penal Code, and Disaster Management Act, 2005, to punish persons responsible for the spread of fake news related to public interest.
The fact-check team would identify fake news related to government schemes, and flag correct news on social media platforms and provide proper information to the public. “We are telling the public what is true and what is fake. These are initial steps and we are experimenting with this,” Mr. Kharge said.
The government would empanel fact-checkers. Expert firms in the field would be empanelled and fact-checkers would dig deep into content, he said.
‘Threat to democracy’
Noting that fake news causes “threat to democracy and social disharmony”, Mr. Kharge said there would be an analytics team which would be responsible for monitoring information and a capacity building team for creating awareness to the public, he said.
“We will also approach heads of social media platforms in case of fake news and ask them to delete such news in the interest of the public,” he said. However, the actions of the government would not be a threat to the freedom of the press and curtailing the rights of the journalists, Mr. Kharge said.
‘Apolitical and unbiased’
“We are ready to include members of the Editors Guild of India in the oversight committee and the guiding principles are apolitical and unbiased,” the Minister said. A few days ago, the proposal was already cleared by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
