BENGALURU: Karnataka IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge tried to allay concerns expressed by the Editors’ Guild of India over the government’s decision to set up a fact-checking unit to monitor social media posts. Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru, the minister said he will write to the Guild. “We are not the UP government, we are the Karnataka government and we will not do anything that is against the law,” he said.
The EGI had expressed concern over some aspects of the government’s decision to set up a fact-checking unit to monitor ‘fake news’. It urged governments to ensure that such units are independent of executive control, and that their scope and powers are specified so as not to trample upon press freedom.
Stating there is a problem of misinformation and fake news, especially in the online space, the Guild stated that efforts to check such content have to be done by independent bodies that are not under the sole purview of the government, lest they become tools to clamp down on voices of dissent. It urged the Karnataka government to clearly specify the scope and powers of the proposed fact-checking unit, as well as the governing mechanism under which it will operate.