Fighting fake news: Preparing India's police force to counter the threat

Police can address the fake news issue at the law and order level, but lacuna lies in understanding the core issue and fundamentally addressing it at the community level

In November last year, the Assam Police ran a social media campaign against fake news called ‘Don’t Fake it’, which drew inspiration from popular songs such as Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and children’s fictional character Pinocchio.

This was a first of its kind social media campaign against fake news by a police force in India. The campaign was not only well received in Assam, but even attracted massive engagement on Twitter and Facebook.

It was around this time that Digital Empowerment Foundation also started a series of workshops called ‘Fighting Fake news’ to spread awareness about the problem among police officers