Mumbai Police to hold group admins personally responsible for fake news

Mumbai Police on Friday issued orders saying that "admins" on messaging and social media platforms will be personally responsible for any incorrect, derogatory and discriminatory information being disseminated from a group administered by them.

Greater Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Pranaya Ashok issued the order vide the powers conferred under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1973.

The order also prohibited the dissemination of information that is derogatory and discriminatory towards a particular community or causing panic and confusion among the general public.

"Prohibitory order for restricting any dissemination of information through various messaging and social media platforms which are found to be incorrect, derogatory and discriminatory towards a particular community, distortion of facts, causing panic and confusion among the general public, inciting mistrust towards government functionaries and their actions taken in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus and thereby causing danger to human health or safety or a disturbance of the public tranquility," the order said.

"It has been observed that there is widespread dissemination of fake news, incorrect information, misinformation, and other such objectionable content in the form of messages, videos, images or memes, audio clips and other such forms of communication over internet messaging and social media platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, etc," the order said.

"Such type of content has been found to have caused panic, confusion among the general public, inciting mistrust towards government functionaries and their actions taken to control the COVID-19 pandemic and also to have created animosity towards various communities," it added.