
‘I would give my life to protect the Indian people from any attack by Pakistan’
- June 17, 2021
The Indian government on Wednesday announced that it has been asked to give a “full-fledged” response to a growing number of fake news stories on social media, which has been spreading in the wake of the ongoing Indo-Pak war.
In a statement, the government said it has asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to initiate a full-fledged investigation into “all fake news, malicious propaganda and propaganda that is spreading on social networks.”
It has also asked the media regulator to make an official report on “fake news, propaganda, malicious dissemination and other violations of India’s cyber laws and guidelines”.
While the NIA is not yet formally asking for a formal probe into the situation, it has also said it will “take appropriate steps” if it sees any “incidents” of “malicious content” on social networking sites.
According to the statement, a team of NIA officers, including senior officials, will visit all social media platforms and websites in the country and “interview relevant users and analyse and assess the content”.
“The government has asked Facebook and other social media platform owners to report any malicious content to the NHA within 48 hours and also take measures to block it.
We are also taking necessary measures to protect our citizens,” the statement added.”
We have received a lot of reports of fake and malicious content on social network sites and we will take necessary measures if necessary to block and neutralise it,” it added.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a war against terror and extremism was “not going to end” and that India was “a safe place to live” in the face of “threats to our democracy, security and prosperity”.
The NIA on Wednesday said it would conduct a “very thorough” investigation into the issue.