PIB’s fact check unit has bust 1,160 fake news since its inception: Thakur

The PIB’s fact checking unit was set up in 2019 to counter the flow of fake news. Fake news has become one of the biggest not only for India, but the rest of the world

New Delhi, Feb 08: The Union Government informed the Lok Sabha that the fact check unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) busted 1,160 cases of false informations since its inception in November 2019.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting told the Lok Sabha, "the Fact Check Unit takes cognisance of fake news relating to the Central Government both suo-motu and by way of queries sent by citizens on its portal or through e-mail and social media.Since its inception, the PIB has received over 37,000 complaints and it has busted 1,160 cases of fake news."

In response to a question by Congress MPs, K Muraleedharan and Benny Behanan, the minister said that in 2019, 17 fake news were busted by the fact check unit. It rose to 394 cases in 2020. In 2021, 285 instances of fake news were debunked, grouting to 338 instances in 2022, the minister said while adding that this year the number stood at 126.

NCRB data:

The National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) had said in its 2021 report that a 42 per cent drop in the number of cases was recorded under section 505 of of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to circulation of fake/false news and rumours.

In 2019, the number of cases related to fake/false news was 486, 1,527 in 2020 and 882 in 2021, the NCRB report said.

Amendment:

In January this year an amendment was proposed to the Information Technology Rules 2021 suggesting that any content identified as fake or false by the PIB's fact-check unit must be taken down.

Any information marked as 'fake or misleading,' by the PIB's fact check unit or any agency 'authorised by the central government for fact checking' will be required to be taken down.

"A three-level Grievance Redressal Mechanism consisting of the publisher (Level-I), a self-regulating body constituted by the publishers (Level-II) and an Oversight Mechanism of the Government (Level-III), with time-bound grievance disposal mechanism has been instituted," Thakur said while speaking about the efforts of the government to curb fake news.

OTT platforms:

Thakur also also responded to a query regarding the amendments in rules to impose restrictions on fake news on digital and OTT platforms.

Responding to the query posed by Samajwadi Party MP Uday Pratap Singh in the Lok Sabha, Thakur said that,"all TV channels are required to adhere to the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, including that programmes should not contain anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendos and half-truths."

"OTT players are not to transmit any content which is prohibited by law and to undertake age-based self-classification of content, based on general guidelines provided in the Schedule, along with adequate safeguards for restricting age-inappropriate content for children with adequate access control measures," Anurag Thakur also said.