Fake News During Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Most Cases Reported by ECI From Twitter, 46 From Facebook, 11 From YouTube
The Election Commission of India (ECI) received 154 complaints regarding fake news or misinformation on social media during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Lok Sabha was informed.
New Delhi, July 31: The Election Commission of India (ECI) received 154 complaints regarding fake news or misinformation on social media during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Lok Sabha was informed. In a written reply, Law Ministry Ravi Shankar Prasad said quoting the ECI that "several social media platforms were directed to remove content spreading fake/false news/misinformation".
"The Commission had received majority of such cases as complaints from social media nodal officers appointed at Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) at the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer,” Prasad said in a written reply to Francisco Sardinha, a member from Goa, in the lower house of Parliament.
According to a list, there were 46 cases were reported to the poll panel about fake news on social networking site Facebook. Following the complaints, the misleading content was reported to Facebook. There were 11 cases of fake news reported from YouTube. Subsequently, Google was informed about the content, the government said. WhatsApp-Aadhaar Linking: 'Source of Fake News or Rumour on Facebook-Owned Platform Can Be Traced'.
From the micro-blogging site Twitter, 97 cases of fake news were reported. While all these cases were reported to Twitter, in one of the cases, an FIR was also launched. The minister also added that tweets spreading misinformation regarding indelible ink was noticed by the social media team of the Commission and the tweets were intended to mislead voters of a specific community. WhatsApp Set to Empower Small and Medium Businesses to Go Digital in India.
Asked whether the ECI had considered banning WhatsApp during the Lok Sabha elections, Prasad said no such proposal was taken up by the poll panel. Asked if the ECI is aware of deep fake technology videos of politicians, the minister said no such “deep fake technology videos” has been brought to their notice.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2019 02:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).