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Tackling Spread of Misinformation in India: A Strategic Approach

Dr. Anup Kumar Das is a Documentation officer at School of Social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University.
His area of research are: Open Science; Open Access; Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Studies;
Digital Learning; ICT for Development. He has 12+ years of Professional Leadership Experience. He received
Emerald Digital Usage Award, Highly Commended Runner Up for proposal "Enhancing Digital Usage of E-
Journals by Researchers and Scholars at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India" and Emerald/IAM Indian
Management Research Fund Award, Highly Commended winner for proposal "Emergence of social
entrepreneurship in e-waste management in India: A preliminary study". He published 40+ papers in peer-
reviewed journals and international conferences.

The spread of misinformation and disinformation is a matter of concern in a civilized society.
Misinformation, also known as fake news, is seen as one of the civilizational crises of the century the
world is facing now. As one of the oldest civilizations, India, has a diverse society. However, we observe
a rampant proliferation of misinformation across urban, peri-urban, and rural India. The growth and
penetration of cellular networks and affordable smart-phones help ordinary citizens’ access internet-based
information-sharing applications including social media channels. They consume textual and audio-visual
contents produced by the news organizations, but also the same consumers are accessing user-generated
contents on their social media accounts. However, some deep-rooted unscrupulous actors, as pointed out
by the Government of India (GOI) and other governments, have been engaged in creation and spread of
fake news on social media platforms. They create and disseminate deceptive textual and audio-visual
contents that spread like a viral. Recently, Wikipedia has published few pages describing the menace of
fake news in the country, titled "Fake news in India", and "Indian WhatsApp lynchings". We also come
across some other Wikipedia pages describing the menace and consequences of fake news in the sub-
continent titled "Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic", "COVID-19 pandemic in India",
"Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir", etc.

Thus, fake news and misinformation have become common challenges before the learned citizens. They
are very keen to distinguish fake news from authentic ones. There are also several attempts made by the
Union Government and media houses to decipher real facts against every piece of fake news. Table 1
depicts some of the initiatives taken by the Indian agencies for combatting against fake news menace.

Table 1: Indian Initiatives for Online Fact-Checking and Countering Misinformation

Name Twitter Handle Tagline/ Areas of interest No. of Type of
Followers Managing
on Agency
Twitter
PIB Fact Checks @PIBFactCheck Countering misinformation on 158.4K Government
Govt. policies/ schemes.
Suspect a Govt. related news to
be fake?
Alt News @AltNews Alternative News and Views in 282.3K Non-
@AltNewsHindi the Post-Truth World. Government

SM Hoax Slayer @SMHoaxSlayer India's fastest, oldest & largest 67.5K Non-
fact-checker. Providing proofs Government
against fake news, or social
media hoaxes brainwashing
people.
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