BENGALURU: False claims that “PUC and SSLC students will be declared passed without exams” and “a grape seller who tested positive for Covid-19 was spitting on his produce” were among the most widely shared pieces of fake news on social media, according to the cybercrime police.
The two topics were each shared over 1 lakh times, particularly on WhatsApp, in less than two weeks. This shows the scope of the challenge police face in identifying and debunking fake news and rumours online.
Cybercrime sleuths from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) recently launched the website factcheck.ksp.gov.in for the public to ascertain if a post on social media is true or false. The claim on the exams began doing the rounds in the second week of April. Finally, on April 22, primary and secondary education minister Suresh Kumar rejected the reports and said the exams would be held for both SSCL and a pending subject in PUC.
“Even after the clarification, the fake news is still doing the rounds,” said an expert working with the cybercrime team.
Then came the fake news about grape seller. Both claims were reported by a few Kannada TV news channels, which caused among many citizens. “The first fake news threw parents and students into a tizzy. The second one was more damaging as there was a communal angle to it. Several people visited our website seeking to know the authenticity of both the claims. We declared both as false and yet they are still doing rounds,” an investigating officer said.
The two topics were each shared over 1 lakh times, particularly on WhatsApp, in less than two weeks. This shows the scope of the challenge police face in identifying and debunking fake news and rumours online.
Cybercrime sleuths from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) recently launched the website factcheck.ksp.gov.in for the public to ascertain if a post on social media is true or false. The claim on the exams began doing the rounds in the second week of April. Finally, on April 22, primary and secondary education minister Suresh Kumar rejected the reports and said the exams would be held for both SSCL and a pending subject in PUC.
“Even after the clarification, the fake news is still doing the rounds,” said an expert working with the cybercrime team.
Then came the fake news about grape seller. Both claims were reported by a few Kannada TV news channels, which caused among many citizens. “The first fake news threw parents and students into a tizzy. The second one was more damaging as there was a communal angle to it. Several people visited our website seeking to know the authenticity of both the claims. We declared both as false and yet they are still doing rounds,” an investigating officer said.
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