Haryana Police on Friday warned strict action against those sharing misleading and unverified information related to COVID-19 on social media platforms, adding that all such rumour-mongers will be booked by the Police after holding them responsible under relevant section of the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Navdeep Singh Virk said that citizens should be more careful about the authenticity of COVID-19 information before sharing or forwarding them on social media. "Several instances of spreading factually incorrect and unverified information on social media are being noticed. Such kind of misinformation can create confusion and potentially lead to panic among the general public. Keeping this in view, any information or content in this regard should be shared after confirmation from the authorized sources," the official said in a statement.
Virk said that cyber police stations, cyber cells and IT teams of Police have been directed to act accordingly in this regard. They are regularly monitoring activities on social media especially the 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. He said in the current situation all ranks of State Police are at the forefront in this fight against the spread of COVID-19. All out efforts are being made to educate people asking them to keep away from sharing unverified contents and not to believe any information circulated on social media .