Centre cracks down on fake news amid Pakistan tensions: Urges states to bolster cyber, civil defence

Amid continued hostilities with Pakistan, the Centre on Friday held meetings with all state information technology (IT) secretaries, urging them to curb spread of misinformation campaigns and fake news on social media platforms on priority.

Alongside, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) held meetings with State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) and district authorities across all 36 states and union territories to guide them on civil defence preparations in the event of a hostile attack.

ET has also learnt that all state IT secretaries have been asked to promptly seek takedown of any fake news with social media intermediaries. Any violation of IT Act, 2000 guidelines must be addressed at the earliest to prevent fake news from going 'viral', it was underlined.


The need for bolstering cyber security across government organisations, public sector enterprises and critical national assets has also been emphasised in fresh meetings. The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is already on high alert and states have been asked to consult them as and when required.

Critical information infrastructure (CII) of governmental and high-profile private entities has been placed under heightened security.

Earlier this week, meetings were held with all social media intermediaries to cooperate in checking the spread of fake news and disinformation on their platforms amid ongoing security operations. They were asked to treat takedown requests on an urgent basis, given national security concerns.

The Centre itself has sent thousands of takedown requests to social media platforms and apps since the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22.

SDMAs were also asked to assess any critical equipment shortage, need for emergency procurement or central assistance of any sort, and expedite processes for the same, it is learnt.

Various union ministries and departments-from health and water resources to power, financial services and telecom-held meetings on Friday and sent out instructions on activating emergency response mechanisms, data safeguards and operational readiness.

On the civil defence front, mobilisation of various levels of resources, from National Cadet Corps and Aapda Mitras to National Youth Corps, Home Guards and ex-servicemen, has already begun.