(This article was originally published on 21 January 2023 and is being republished from The Quint's archives after it was reported that the Supreme Court stayed the central government's notification to establish a fact-checking unit under the IT Ministry.)
The government’s concern at the circulation of patently false news items is quite understandable as there is a noticeable rise in the visibility of such items circulating on social media. In fact, 2023 is the tenth year since this new weapon was added to the arsenal of India’s major political parties.
These items stir up emotions, for or against the regime, and whip up rage at perceived attacks and insults on one’s religion. There are clear reasons to assume that several hordes of people or teams must be working overtime to disseminate them in order to raise the temperature in people’s minds with these distortions of the truth.