Taking serious note of spread of factually incorrect and unverified information on social media about Covid-19 which may create confusion and potentially lead to panic among the general public, the Police officers of Gurugram, Panchkula, Faridabad and other districts of the State on Thursday asked people to be more careful about the authenticity of information before sharing or forwarding them on social media.
WhatsApp group admin will be held responsible if members forward any hate or fake message on Covid-19, or a message which may create panic and disturb peace among religious communities,officials said.
Talking to The Pioneer over phone, Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Mohit Handa said that the district cyber media cells of Panchkula Police are keeping an eye on social media. The Group admin of What’s App Group should be careful while its members post any forwarded messages on the group related to Covid-19.
“WhatsApp group admin will be held responsible if members forward any hate or fake message on Covid-19, or a message which may create panic and disturb peace among religious communities,” he added.
Handa said that the special teams at Cyber Crime Police Station level have been formed to flag down and take action against widespread rumour-mongering regarding the Covid-19 scare. District has received 62 cyber crime related complaints including fake news, messages and other IT related violations. The cyber police and IT teams of Police have been directed to act accordingly in this regard. “Team members at Cyber Crime Police Station, Panchkula are regularly monitoring activities on social media especially Whatsapp. Apart from group admin, those who post fake or unverified contents on social media would also be held responsible. Police will take stringent action as per the law against those found guilty, he added.
“Do not listen to rumours or pay heed to them. Do not believe anything unless checking its veracity and truthfulness. Take all precautionary steps to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Stay safe, stay healthy,” the DCP added.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Gurugram Karan Goel who is in-charge of district cyber crime police station said that cases regarding fake news, messages have been registered and team members are investigating it thoroughly. “We have issued advisory to the people regarding the same and also warned strict action against those sharing misleading and unverified information related to Covid-19 on social media platforms,“ he added.
Panchkula DCP said that an advisory has been issued regarding the same.
An advisory issued by Panhkula police stated that in case of false news or rumour regarding Covid-19 or a message which may create panic and disturb peace among religious communities is circulated on social media, both the administrator of the group as well as the sender of the message will be held responsible. The advisory said, “False news has been seen to be broadcasted on various social media platforms like Whatsapp which is also the fastest. Several organisations have related Whatsapp groups to increase work outputs. But some people have used these to make fake messages viral which may cause unrest. For any circulation of such false messages both the sender and the whatsapp group admin will be held responsible.”
The advisory urged people to beware of such messages which are also increasing the cases of fraud. Giving out tips on how to battle these, the police department has suggested that users of social media keep an eye on the messages coming on social media. Please read any message before forwarding it. If it is not necessary, do not forward it. During this catastrophe of Covid-19, the cyber department is receiving such complaints where people are spreading false information on social media. The department has also asked the users as well as the admins of groups to report cases of false news and messages to their nearest police station online through their website. www.cybercrime.gov.in
Panchkula Police also urged the people to no post fake news, hate speech or misinformation in groups and not forward or disseminate fake news which they read in other groups, delete objectionable posts immediately, report cases of fake news or hate speech to the police and group admin and further, not share content which many be violent, obscene and discriminatory against any religious community. The department urged the group admins to either remove miscreants from groups or put the group setting to messages by admin only.
They further asked the admins to ensure that every group member is reliable and responsible and shares only verified news. Inform group members about the rules of posting in the group and actively and regularly monitor the content that is being shared on the group. The advisory further sated: Even after the appropriate setting, if a fake message makes its way to the group which may insult any religion, spread hatred, give a message of bigotry or which may cause communal tension, the admin of the group will be held fully responsible.”
Panchkula Cyber police have asked the Group Admin to change the settings to Admin mode only. This will ensure that the admin will only be able to post any message and without his knowledge no members in the group can post any forward that is related to spreading communal hate, fake rumours and misleading information related to Covid-19. Also it is advised that if there is multiple admin then it should be changed to a single admin.
