Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan said in Rajya Sabha that the government is very concerned about the freedom of expression and freedom of expression.
Asked about action against those spreading fake news and publishers of anti-national content, Murugan said over 60 accounts, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, have been blocked.
“These YouTube channels are sponsored from Pakistan,” he said.
On fake news through newspapers, the minister said that the Press Council of India is an autonomous statutory body and takes care of the journalistic code of conduct.
“Journalists have to follow the code of conduct. Where they have not followed the code of conduct under Section 14 of the Press Council Act, action has to be initiated. In more than 150 cases, we have taken action against them,” he said.
Asked about the role of TechFog app in spreading fake news, Murugan said the government has set up a fact checking unit, which has answered over 30,000 queries.
He said that this unit is also verifying the viral fake news.
According to an official statement, the government on January 21 ordered the blocking of 35 YouTube-based news channels and two websites that were involved in spreading anti-India fake news in a coordinated manner on digital media.
Also, two Twitter accounts, two Instagram accounts and one Facebook account were blocked.
In December also, 20 YouTube channels and two websites were blocked, the official statement said.
In a written reply to a starred question, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said that the government has statutory and institutional mechanisms to deal with fake news.
A “Fact Investigation Unit” has been set up under the Press Information Bureau of this Ministry in November, 2019 to suo moto and through queries sent by citizens on its portal or through e-mails and WhatsApp. takes cognizance of.
“The unit responds to relevant queries with correct information relating to the Central Government or forwards to the States/UTs in other matters. The Unit also maintains a Twitter account @PIBFactcheck and posts cases of fake news on the same , on the same on regular basis. The PIB Fact Check Unit has so far answered 30,533 actionable queries,” he said.
For the print media, the Press Council of India (PCI), a statutory autonomous body established under the Press Council Act, 1978, has formulated “Standards of Journalistic Conduct” to be followed by the media.
These criteria emphasize the principles of accuracy and fairness, as well as pre-publication verification.
PCI has formulated specific norms to prevent print media from publication/spread of fake or false news.
For electronic media (television), all TV channels are required to comply with the program code under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.
As per the Code, programs should not contain anything obscene, defamatory, intentional, untrue and suggestive, indirect and half-truths.
For digital news, the government has notified the Information Technology (Intermediate Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Conduct) Rules, 2021 on 25 February 2021 under the Information Technology Act, 2000, which, inter alia, shall be followed by digital news publishers. Provides code of conduct for ,
Thakur said, “Appropriate action is taken in cases where violation of norms, codes etc. is found. The government also issues advisories to the media from time to time to follow the prescribed codes.”
with agency input
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