PIB establishes checking unit to combat fake news against government on social media

The Centre’s nodal agency for issuing releases to the public, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has created a fact checking unit in order to tackle the fake news on social media targeting the government and the work being done by it, reported a tweet from PIB.

The fact check unit will have officials from the PIB as well as employees hired on contract to monitor platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to flag news that is fake and has the potential for creating social unrest.

MIB (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) had in 2016 established an early warning system to identify likely flashpoints to warn the government about, and the ministry’s social media analytics used to create reports for the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Security Advisor’s Office after sifting through social media sites.


Although the social media analytics unit was later disbanded, MIB worked closely with the Election Commission and social media companies during the Lok Sabha polls this year to find and remove posts spreading fake news.


In 2018, the ministry constituted a committee to frame rules to regulate news portals and media websites. During the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, the election commission also worked with social media platforms to identify and pull down posts that were fake and could lead to vitiating the elections.