Karnataka govt to set up its own fact-check unit

With Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah authorising a fact-check unit in Karnataka, the IT-BT department has already begun the process of drawing up SOP to identify and label posts and reports on social and conventional media as fake. Officials say the SOP will involve fact checkers with the IT-BT department identifying fake news and alerting both social media firms and the government-set up panel which will look into details. The government panel will also include legal personnel who will vet news as fake and provide input on whether it will attract provisions of the IPC and the IT policy. State IT and BT minister Priyank Kharge said his department was in the process of empanelling fact-checkers. It will also provide technological support to the home department, which will lead in curbing fake news. The government will keep a close eye on a “syndicate” of fake news circulators, which Congress believes is backed by BJP’s IT cell.