NEW DELHI: Perturbed over massive misinformation campaign being run against it, the Indian Army has urged its serving officers as well as veterans to verify defence-related information being commenting on it on social media.
According to sources, Indian army establishment which monitors social media has observed that in the recent past, several fake documents related to the subjects like civil-military rank parity or seventh pay commission report was being circulated. Even in some instances, an old picture of videos was widely circulated as the latest incident in the Jammu and Kashmir valley.
In view the recent social media posts, Army headquarters has come out with an advisory saying that “vested interests”, including those in neighbouring countries, were carrying out a deliberate misinformation campaign.
“At times, even vintage photographs are being circulated to depict recent incidents. Therefore, it is apparent that there is a deliberate misinformation campaign being launched by vested interests, some of which is being initiated from countries bordering our nation,” the advisory said.
It advised the veterans and officers to approach the Army headquarters to check the veracity of information or material before they commented on issues that directly affected the service.
“This does not in any way deny veterans the right to healthy criticism on any issue that they feel necessitates attention of our community,” it added.
"A number of tweets, Facebook posts, WhatsApp messages and Blogs by veterans and some serving officers using these documents and photographs are being circulated in various social media groups. Veterans and officers are advised to approach the Army HQ to verify the correctness of information or material before they make any comment on the issues that directly our service." The advisory however added, " this does not in any way deny veterans the right of healthy criticism on any issue that they feels necessitates attention of our community."