Introduction

What is fake news? This is one of the highest available questions in the Internet. Pankaj Jain, an active fake news slayer, stated “fake news can be a bit of misleading term. It can mean several things- news sowing confusion, a mistake, fabricating information, an intentional twisting of a news story etc.” Thus, in this super confused environment, the definition needs to be precisely understood first if one really wants to discourage the spread of half-truths. Thus, in 2018, the Press Council of India (PCI) understood the need of the hour and published a definition of fake news in the context of the nation’s well-being. Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, Chairman of PCI quoted “Fake News means news, story, information, data and reports which is or are wholly or partially false.” Earlier, ‘fake news’ was a rarely used term but today it is one of the greatest threats to our system of democracy and has emerged as a hot topic for the debaters. 

Fake news is not only a problem in a highly populated country like India but acts as a deadly virus. Followed by the 2016 US Presidential Elections, ‘Fake News’ was announced as the word of the year by Collins English Dictionary in the year 2017. During the General Election of 2019, India followed the same trend. Fake news comprises of stories, news, and bamboozles created to misinform/mislead deliberately or deceive audience. These stories are created with the motive to influence people’s view, push a political agenda or cause confusion and can often be a profitable business for online publishers. The three elements to fake news are: mistrust, misinformation and manipulation. In contemporary times, as various media have gained acceptance among its audiences, it has become a forerunner in the distribution of fake news. A newspaper in print media, television in broadcast and internet in digital form act as key factors in propagating fake news. 

The policies and laws should be reviewed in order to curb fake news or hold the perpetrator accountable for their action. Lack of laws and policies have only made the situation complex and challenging. Responsible users have time and again raised the issue to review and amend the existing laws to curb the spreading of the fake news, but efforts by both policymakers and civil societies have not been enough to address this issue within the control of digital space. Fake-news outlets, in turn, lack the news media’s editorial norms and processes for ensuring the accuracy and credibility of the information. Fake news challenges the existing journalism tutelage and creates a scuffle between re-establishing credibility, truth and perception of students and also with the community. India too is a prey to this syndrome and need to articulate a thorough framework that acquires concerted verification practices and reengaging with the audience to address the post-truth politics in the country. 

Social Media-A tool for Fake News

India has the most social media users, with Facebook having 300 million users, WhatsApp having 200 million  and 250 million using YouTube. These platforms are often filled with fake news and disinformation. It has not only misinformed the users on social media but also triggered violence and barbaric killings around the country. In India the consequences of spreading fake news have been far from one could imagine.

Here are some of the instances depicting the consequences of Fake News.

The Muzzafarnagar riots of 2013, which claimed over 60 lives and displaced thousands, was fueled by videos circulated on WhatsApp and this was served to inflame sentiments. One message that made the rounds in November 2016, just after the government announced an overhaul of the country’s cash, stated that a newly released 2,000 rupee bank note would contain a GPS tracking nano-chip which would have the ability to locate bank notes hidden as far as 390 feet underground. Another rumor spread was about salt shortages in November 2016, prompted a rush on salt in four Indian states. UNESCO has declared ‘Jana Gana Mana’ the best national anthem in the world was circulated on WhatsApp in 2019. Many false stories have led to violence. In May 2017, rumors about child abductors in a village triggered several lynchings and the deaths of seven people. According to IndiaSpend, a data journalism website, a rumor spread through social media about child kidnappers arriving in various parts of India led to 33 deaths in 69 incidents of mob violence since 2017. In August 2017, rumors about an occult gang chopping off women’s braids in northern India spread panic, and a low-caste woman was killed. Some stories exacerbate India’s religious and caste tensions. For instance, images showing attacks against Hindus by Rohingya Islamic terrorists in Burma circulated on social media in India, building up hatred in Hindu-majority India against Muslim Rohingya. In 2018, PanjuriKachari, a small village in Assam, witnessed one of the most discussed cases of lynching. The smartphone footage which went viral, showed two blood-soaked men pleading for their lives, moments later they were dead. These two men were beaten to death by a crazed village mob wielding bamboo sticks, machetes, and rocks, as they were mistaken to be child kidnappers. A Twitter user uploaded a video of a woman being dragged and murdered in broad daylight and claimed that she was murdered by a particular religious group as she was a believer of different religion with different political views. In reality the clip was that of a street play depicting the murder of a journalist in the country. The NaMo app, an app dedicated to Narendra Modi was reported to have promoted and spread fake news.

Fake news is travelling much faster than the coronavirus in India. Even before the country reported its first case on 30 January, India’s social media was rife with fake posts, wild rumours, conspiracy theories, doctored videos about the disease’s origin, its subsequent spread and possible remedies. One of the first prominent fake messages was home remedies of Vitamin C warding off the virus. In this regard, several fake videos started circulating in the name of well-known doctor Devi Shetty recommending people to take hot water with lemon juice to improve immunity.

Millions of fake messages including catchy and appealing videos promoting the miracle power of cow urine, or Gaumutra, to cure the disease began to show up on most prominent social medial platform. This piece of fake news made many people fall into false beliefs and organize Gaumutra drinking party in their own cities and towns. This alarmed India’s top medical research body (ICMR) to issue repeated appeals to people not to fall prey to such false cures. A number of fake videos began circulating in Indore and other cities spreading rumours that Muslim youth were being picked up to be injected with COVID-19 positive blood at the quarantine centers. This rumour and consequent stigmatization of the Tablighi Jamaat led to a series of violent attacks on healthcare professionals in Indore. Another instance is a team of doctors, health workers and revenue officials who had gone to identify the family members of a 65-year-old man who died of COVID-19 were attacked in Indore, after fake videos claimed that healthy Muslims were being taken away and injected with the virus, reiterating the dangers and physical manifestations of misinformation.

Laws and Regulation in India to Curb Fake News 

The Constitution of India

Freedom of expression is mentioned in the preamble of India’s Constitution and the right is protected under article 19, which states that “all citizens shall have the right . . . to freedom of speech and expression”. This right is not absolute and is subject to reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of country, the security of the State, public order, friendly relations with foreign States, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.

Indian Penal Code (IPC)

There is no specific provision in Indian law against fake news. However the following offences under IPC criminalize certain forms of speech that may constitute ‘fake news’ and applies to online or social media content: 

Sec 124A, Sections 153A, Section 292, Section 295A, Section 499, Section 503, Section 504 and Section 505.

The Law Commission of India in its 267th Report has recommended to add two new provisions to the Penal Code to further discourage hate speech. The report suggests that a section 153C be added to prohibit incitement to hatred and a section 505A to prohibit speech that causes fear, alarm, or provocation of violence.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT)

The Information Technology Act, 2000 regulates electronic commerce and also defines certain cyber-crimes. In addition, the government has repeatedly resorted to measures such as Internet shutdowns in specific areas like Jammu and Kashmir.

Cyber Crimes

Offences, listed in Chapter XI of the IT Act specify punishments for publishing obscene and sexually explicit material. The IT Act had a section 66A which could have been applicable to instances of fake news but it has been stroked down by the Supreme Court.

Immunity of Intermediaries and Removing Content

The Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 are a set of subsidiary rules under the IT Act. Rule 3 lays down due diligence to be observed by intermediary companies, defining intermediary, with respect to any particular electronic records. Section 79 of the Act grants limited immunity to intermediaries for any illegal content posted by third parties.

Blocking Content

Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 allows the Central Government to issue directions to block content on certain grounds.

Internet Shutdowns

Government of India has used internet shutdowns to deal with fake news on a number of occasions. Several laws are used to support internet shutdowns, as mentioned below:

Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017.

Election Commission of India & the Representation of the People Act, 1951

Forty-Eight-Hour Silence Period

The Representation of the People Act, 1951 prohibits advertising and campaigning on TV and other electronic media by candidates and political parties during the “silent period,” which is forty-eight hours before the end of polling.

Model Code of Conduct (MCC)

The Election Commission of India has added guidelines for social media promotion in the Model Code of Conduct for the political parties in order to avoid misinformation campaigns during elections. A Voluntary Code of Ethics for the General Election 2019 was agreed upon by social media platforms (including Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, TikTok etc) and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) to ensure confidence in the electoral process.

Information on Social Media Accounts

Rule 4A of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, requires candidates or proposers of candidates to fill out an affidavit (Form 26) at the time of filing their nomination papers. Paragraph 3 of this Form requires the candidate to provide the Commission with his/her “email ID” and a list of any social media accounts.

Pre-Certification of Social Media content

The Election Commission requires pre-approval of the political advertisements through registration mechanisms for political advertisements on social media and have also asked the companies to establish grievance officers.

Transparency on the Expenditure of Social Media Content

The Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires every candidate to keep a separate and correct account of all expenditure in connection with the election. Followed by the 2014 Supreme Court of India decision in Common Cause v. Union of India,the ECI required that the political parties “submit a statement of expenditure of elections to the ECI. In its 2013 instructions the ECI states that social media is a part of all expenditure in connection with the elections and for the sake of removing any confusion, it is directed to candidates and political parties to include all expenditure on campaigning, including all expenditure on advertisements on social media, both for maintaining a correct account of expenditure and for submitting the statement of expenditure.

Other Government Actions

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

In February 2019, the Government of India released a Draft National e-Commerce Policy from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade which noted that the online platforms have a responsibility and liability to ensure genuineness of any information posted on their websites.

The Press Information Bureau of India

On April 2, 2018, the Press Information Bureau of India amended the Guidelines for Accreditation of Journalists to provide for the suspension of a journalist’s accreditation for creating or propagating fake news. It also stated that the same would get referred to the Press Council of India (PCI) if it relates to print media & to News Broadcasters Association (NBA) if it pertains to electronic media, for the purpose of determination of the news item being fake or not. However, the amendment was reportedly withdrawn by the government.

Other Steps Taken by Social Media Platforms

Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Google have focused on bringing transparency responding to government requests, including raising the spread of awareness around disinformation and fake news and verifying content on their platforms.

Facebook- In February 2019, Facebook announced that it will carry disclaimer labels for political advertisements offering details about those responsible for running the advertisement as the social media giant looks to bring transparency in political advertisements ahead of elections in India. Also, Facebook has been blocking fake accounts and has partnered up with third-party fact-checkers for the elections. 

WhatsApp- It has introduced a number of measures, according to one news source, including limiting the number of times a user can forward a message to five. It also now labels forwarded messages. The limits were reportedly introduced in July 2018. WhatsApp has also introduced a fact-checking helpline, encouraging users to flag messages for verification. An old advertising video has been re-circulated urging people to ‘share joy, not rumors’. 

Twitter- Leading up to India’s 2019 general elections, Twitter launched a tool that lets users flag tweets that attempt to mislead voters. 

Google- In June 2018, the initiative was brought to India as Google News Initiative Training Network. The Google News Initiative has been focused to explore ways to challenge fake news in India. This comes at the time when fake news has continued to impact societies and events in India, where digital penetration is increasing.

Regulatory Authorities maintaining the spread of Fake News

Press Council of India is a regulatory body which can warn, reprimand or censor the newspaper, the news agency, the editor or the journalist or object the conduct of the editor or the journalist if it finds that a newspaper or a news agency is violating the journalistic ethics.

News Broadcasters Association (NBA) represents the private television news as well as current affairs broadcasters. The self-regulatory body looks into the complaints against the electronic media.

Indian Broadcast Foundation (IBF) also probes the complaints against contents aired by channels.

Broadcasting Content Complaint Council (BCCC) signs complaints against TV broadcasters for objectionable TV content and fake news.

Conclusion

Government should encourage independent, professional journalism. Individuals can protect themselves from false news by being skeptical about news sources. To learn how to identify fake news sites and protect oneself from misleading information is a high priority in the digital age. It is necessary for the technological firms and social media companies  to invest in the technology to find fake news and identify it for users. It is the duty of news industry to focus on high-quality journalism that builds trust with audiences. Along with legal measures taken there is a need for undertaking digital literacy initiatives, technological interventions and to determine the role of technology companies in dealing with fake news in India. For example, Italy has experimentally added ‘recognizing fake news’ in school syllabus. India should also seriously emphasize cyber security, internet education, and fake news education in the academic curriculum at all levels. In conclusion, everyone has a responsibility to combat the spread of fake news. This ranges from supporting investigative journalism, reducing financial incentives for fake news and improving digital literacy among the general public of the country.