Fact Check: Govt has not made sharing COVID-19 related information a punishable offence

New Delhi, Dec 28: A message is in circulation claiming that the government has said that sharing COVID-19 related news on the social media is a punishable offence.

Sharing COVIDD-19 related posts on the social media has been declared as a punishable offence by the government. Only the government agencies can share information relating to the diseases and an FIR will be registered under the Information Technology Act against the WhatsApp group admin and all members if they share the misleading post of message, the viral message read.

However the government has called out this viral message and said that it is fake. Taking to Twitter, PIB Fact Check said, 'has posting messages relating to COVID-19 been declared a punishable offence by the government? No, but sharing accurate and reliable information on a serious issue like COVID-19 is of utmost importance. Be aa responsible citizen and share only correct inforamtion, PIB Fact Check said.

This fake message comes just days after another message relating to COVID-19 went viral on the social media. The message had claimed that the government will be announcing a 7 day lockdown in India. A fake screenshot from a YouTube channel, CE News said that a lock down will be imposed in India from December 24 and the restrictions would remain in force for a week.

It also added that the decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This post too turned out to be fake and it was the PIB Fact Check which yet again clarified that the news in circulation is absolutely fake.

While the government has been taking several measures to fight the spread of COVID-19, owing to a spurt in China, no decision to punish those sharing information on COVID-19 has been taken. The government has time and again said that the information that is shared must be genuine and no attempts should be made to spread panic and confusion among the people.