Karnataka govt forms panel to frame fact-check mechanism

The committee has Home Minister G Parameshwara as chairperson with IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge as co-chair, a government source said.

Bengaluru: Congress-ruled Karnataka has set up a high-level committee to institutionalise a mechanism to fight fake news, notwithstanding the Bombay High Court’s order striking down a similar move of the Modi administration to set up a fact-check unit. 

The committee has Home Minister G Parameshwara as chairperson with IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge as co-chair, a government source with direct knowledge of this told DH. 

Representatives from the departments of law and home are also on the committee.

“The committee has been tasked with evolving a mechanism to carry out fact-checking,” the source said. 

Last year, the Siddaramaiah government set up the Information Disorder Tackling Unit (IDTU).

During the Lok Sabha polls, the IDTU quietly ran a 90-day trial through its website satya.karnataka.gov.in

During the trial run, the IDTU combed 64,000 articles a day on the internet, resulting in at least 18 FIRs. A total of 537 fact-checks were done. Of them, 500 were deemed ‘threats’. 

“We couldn’t evolve a proper mechanism at that time because of the elections,” the source said.   

Soon after coming to power in June last year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directed the police to begin a crackdown on fake news, ostensibly keeping the Lok Sabha polls in mind, which eventually led to the formation of the IDTU.

Last month, the Bombay High Court struck down the 2023 amendments to the Information Technology Rules, which empowered the Union government to identify fake news on social media platforms through a Fact Check Unit (FCU). 

The amended rules infringed the right to equality and freedom of speech, the court said. The court also said that the rules, being vague and broad, could cause a “chilling effect” not only on an individual but also social media intermediaries.

When contacted, Priyank said the Bombay High Court ruling would not impact his government’s plans. 

“The Union government wanted to amend the existing rules to enable fact-checking. Karnataka, however, wants to do fact-checking under the existing legal framework without seeking any amendments,” Priyank, who anchored the state’s fact-checking project, explained. 

In March this year, the government constituted a multi-departmental coordination committee. This has representatives from the police, IT/BT, law and information departments.