NEW DELHI, Aug 16: Government departments are constituting Quick Response Teams (QRTs) to swiftly identify and counter misleading, fake and factually incorrect content circulating on social media, officials said.
The initiative aims to ensure timely responses to rumours, misinformation, fake content and misleading posts while enabling ministries and departments to engage with people constructively through social media.
Departments including power, agriculture and commerce have already constituted their QRTs, with officials emphasising that responses should ideally be issued within two hours of such content being noticed.
The social media and digital media teams of respective ministries will regularly monitor relevant digital platforms for content concerning their policies, schemes, programmes, decisions and announcements. Inputs will also be sought from the new media wing of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Content found to be fake, misleading, factually incorrect, manipulated, distorted, taken out of context or capable of causing public confusion will be referred to the QRTs for verification.
The teams will examine the information, establish the factual position and coordinate responses, including with the Press Information Bureau’s fact-check unit.
Officials said cases involving high virality, significant public interest, sensitive policy matters, potential public harm, legal implications, coordinated misinformation campaigns or inter-ministerial issues would be escalated to senior authorities.
The move is aimed at strengthening the government’s institutional mechanism for monitoring digital platforms and ensuring faster dissemination of verified information. (Agencies)