Crackdown on fake news: Karnataka to set up social media cells; cops to monitor posts
By Vinaykumar Patil | First Published Jul 7, 2023, 5:45 PM ISTKarnataka government takes action against fake news by setting up social media cells to monitor and crack down on accounts spreading misinformation. The cells will be headed by senior police officers, with training provided to effectively monitor and take action against offenders. FIRs will be filed against accounts involved in spreading fake news.
Social media is a platform where everyone can post their opinions and news, disregarding the data limitation. That also increased the possibility of fake news spreading like wildfire across social media. Thus, to check this, the government has decided to set up social media cells to keep an eye on the accounts that spread fake news.
CM Siddaramaiah had ordered the CID to keep a check on the spread of fake news. Regarding this, the state Home Ministry has taken quick action to establish the social media cells and monitor the accounts.
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The cell will be headed by an SP rank officer, with the State level Social media cell working under the CID. Along with them, DYSP, Inspectors and other cyber experts will be appointed to the cell. The commissioner and the District SP offices will also contain these cells, State Director General of Police Alok Mohan suggested, according to the sources.
After the Congress government took charge, CM Siddaramaiah directed DGP Alok Kumar to contain the spread of fake news, which bring communal violence in the society. Regarding the order, DGP has decided to start the cells in State and district levels. The notice has already been issued by the office and the social media cell will be started very soon.
Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Youtube and other platforms are used for disseminating fake news. The fake news spreads like wildfire in no time. The police department will monitor all the news, which hurts communities, initiates riots and also spreads twisted news across the platforms. The accounts will be monitored and strict actions will be taken against them.
FIR will be lodged
An FIR will be lodged against such accounts, which spread and share the news across all the platforms. The CID will lodge FIR in the cybercrime and take immediate action against the members who are involved in such activities.
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Cyber training for the officers
The police will get detailed training of how to monitor and check the accounts in the cell. The officers will be trained of how to check the accounts technically and contain their spread. The experts will teach the officers to monitor, check and also ban the accounts which involve themselves in creating a ruckus in society.
The department is established under CID because, it has an excellent Cyber crime cell, where hackers and Social media experts are part of the cell. The Cyber Crime dept will teach the State police and other officials about the technical expertise required to monitor Social media platforms. Therefore, the DGP has decided to place the Social media cell under CID.
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