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The fact-checking unit being set up by the Karnataka government is expected to be operational in January 2024, Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge told The Indian Express on Monday.
The information technology and biotechnology department, which pilots the unit, has written to the home department to depute an officer of the additional director-general of police rank to head it, he said. As soon as the appointment is complete, the fact-checking unit will start trails, he said, adding that it could take a month for the unit to be operational.
Following Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s announcement in June, the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society floated an expression of interest in October to empanel agencies for its “Information Disorder Tackling Unit”.
It evoked responses from seven companies, of which five were selected. They are Gauri Media, Logically Infomedia Pvt Ltd, Trylika Technology Ltd, Newsplus Communications and OW Dataleads—all involved in fact-checking. Logically and Trylika have expertise in data analytics as well.
Amid concerns about the unit’s constitutional validity, Kharge maintained that it was not set up under a new policy. “We are using the existing law and building a framework,” he said.
The government had said the unit would consist of “impartial fact-checking organisations chosen by the state government to detect and address false information”. An analytics squad would utilise advanced technologies such as data analytics and artificial intelligence to actively oversee the ecosystem of misinformation. A capacity development team would lead public awareness campaigns to educate people about the consequences of misinformation.
In August, Siddaramaiah approved the formation of the fact-checking unit maintaining that curbing fake news was essential “as it was responsible for the weakening of democracy and polarisation in society”. The chief minister said the government was also mulling over legislation to curb the spread of false news.
The Editors Guild of India, however, had voiced concerns over the fact-checking unit, maintaining that such bodies should be independent of executive control. It had also requested the government to clearly specify the scope and powers of the proposed fact-checking unit, as well as the governing mechanism under which it would operate.
The unit should not become a tool to “clamp down on voices of dissent”, it had said.
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