'Fake news capable of snowballing into matter of national concern,' says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said a piece of single fake news has the capability to snowball into a matter of national concern and emphasised the need to come up with technological advancement to check them.

Addressing the 'Chintan Shivir', a gathering of home ministers of states to deliberate on issues of internal security, Modi stressed on the need to educate people about analysing and verifying any piece of information before forwarding it to others.

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"One should think 10 times before forwarding any information and verify it before believing it. Every platform has tools to verify any information. If you will browse through different sources, you will get a new version of it," the prime minister said.

Pointing out the possibilities of social media, Modi said that one should not limit it to being the source of information.

He said that a piece of single fake news has the capability to snowball into a matter of national concern.

Modi lamented the losses that India had to face due to fake news about job reservations in the past. "We have to come up with technological advancement to prevent the spreading of fake news," the prime minister said.