VIJAYAWADA: Acting tough on social media abusers, who intend to propagate hate speech and circulate derogatory posts disturbing the political harmony in the State, Cybercrime wing of Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (APCID) has tightened its vigil on unverified accounts on social media platforms in the wake of upcoming general elections.
The APCID formed special teams, which will monitor social media accounts round-the-clock, identify trouble mongers posting unverified and fake content and take it to the notice of Election Commission of India.
The officials will also focus on crimes where scamsters are looting the public in the name of online voter card registration, election and political party surveys. The police have found out that some unidentified miscreants using fake accounts are spreading false information of poll predictions and asking people to engage in the activities.
“People should not entertain such links or messages from unverified sources. Sharing OTP or filling Google forms sent through spam mail or messages, gives the scamsters access to sensitive information, which he/she may use to siphon off money from bank accounts,” the CID officials explained.
Apart from this, the cybercrime police are making all out efforts to track people sharing hate speech against political parties or leaders and also morphing images and videos, instigating the netizens to believe the false information.
APCID chief N Sanjay instructed all the political leaders, especially youngsters, to refrain from posting hate speeches and unverified news against any individual or political party. He also warned that relevant cases would be booked against them under relevant sections of the IT Act.
“During elections, it is common that people post a photo or video in favour of any leader he/she likes most. But one must be careful and conscious about what they are posting as it might create unnecessary discussions and debates, snowballing into clashes between political communities. All social media accounts are being watched and cases would be filed in compliance with Election Commission of India’s guidelines,” the APCID chief asserted.