Here's how Karnataka plans to fight hate speech, fake news

The Karnataka government is prepping up to work on a unit that will scrutinise complaints and track the internet to watch out for hate speech and misinformation, according to state's IT Minister Priyank Kharge.

According to him, a rough budget of Rs 10 crore has been allotted for the same. He also shared details on how this unit will function, reported Hindustan Times.

The unit -- Information Disorder Tackling Unit -- was announced within weeks of formation of the new Congress government in Karnataka.

Karnataka, on Tuesday, released a call for proposal (CFP) carrying details of the project as it sought applications to form teams with three requisite mandates - analytics, fact checking, and capacity building.

The proposal has drawn concerns that the project could jeopardise freedom of speech online. It comes against the backdrop of the Union government’s attempts to create its own fact-check unit, which has been kept in limbo after being challenged by comedian Kunal Kamra and slew of media bodies in the Bombay High Court.

“What they [the Centre] have tried to do is amend the IT Act (Information Technology Act, 2000) and try to force in their narrative … We are not amending a single act. We are not getting in any new rules. We are merely using technology to determine what is [legal] as per the current IPC sections or current law of the land. It is as simple as that,” Kharge said.

However, CFP hasn't disclosed its budget yet.

“Once the empanelment is done, we will figure out what kind of physical and digital infrastructure is required and then we will do it. Right now, the in-principle agreement is over 10 crores,” Kharge said.

Concerns over fact checking process

As far as fact checking in concerned, the team can either look at the content themselves or receive it from the public. In the former case, a single point of contact (review SPOC), appointed by the state government, must first approve initiating a fact check.

If the information to perform a fact check is not available in public domain, they will ask nodal officers of state departments for it. Once they complete their analysis, there will be an internal review within the fact check agency.

“No newsroom can be editorially independent if they have a government nominee gatekeeping which claims to address or not. That goes against the spirit of editorial independence followed by good newsrooms across the world. Under the IDTU workflow, the claims have to be approved by a state government official which is not in line with the principles followed by a fact-checking newsroom,” Jency Jacob, the managing editor of BOOM Fact Check, told HT.

Selection of fact checkers

The fact checkers will consist of independent fact check agencies whose work must be "unbiased and evidence based". Its remit will be restricted to the jurisdiction of Karnataka.

According to the CFP, applicants will have to demonstrate “no political/ideological affiliation that could impact the work and the reputation of the ITDU”.

The agency should also be able to work and communicate in all the major languages of Karnataka - Kannada, English, Tulu, Konkani, Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, and Telugu.