THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Social media is abuzz with negative campaigns and misinformation about the Nipah virus infection. Triggering panic among people, rumour-mongers are also ruling the roost. But now they will get a taste of their own medicine as the social media wing of the Kerala Police has decided to release a series of trolls and video messages to disseminate authentic information regarding Nipah virus.
“The idea is to pay them back in their own coin. For that, we have prepared a series of trolls and video messages. Instead of providing direct messages, which might be monotonous at times, we were of the view that if such information was ‘disguised’ as trolls it might have more takers,” said an officer with the Hitech Cell. At the same time, Cyberdome nodal officer Manoj Abraham told Express that the cyber wing decided to crack down on rumour-mongers after taking note of the mob frenzy created by false messages in social media.
According to him, while the immediate priority before the police is to disseminate positive and precautionary information so that unwanted concerns and fear among people could be alleviated, it is also taking a serious note on people spreading or sharing false information as two cyber cases has been registered so far in the state in this regard.
“We were disseminating such messages on a daily basis. Instead of taking the state as a whole, we were concentrating more on those areas of Kozhikode and Malappuram districts that were hit by the Nipah virus outbreak and is more vulnerable to such negative campaigns and misinformation,” he added.
It is learned that as part of the campaign the Cyberdome has geofenced the areas in which the negative campaigns were rife and has started to send messages regarding Nipah virus to mobile numbers registered in these areas.
Meanwhile, Dr Amar Fettle, state nodal officer for Nipah virus prevention, told Express that compared to initial days of virus outbreak, the negative campaigns and false information being spread through social media have come down remarkably. “Nowadays such messages are seen intermittently. The latest is the message which claims that the Health Department has issued a warning against eating chicken as it is a source of Nipah. When one looks closely into that message one could find that many spelling mistakes have been made. It might be deliberate. But the intent might be to trigger panic among people,” said Fettle.
Earlier, the Indian Medical Association’s six-member expert panel, which investigated into the Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, had come out with the finding that negative campaigns by some through the social media had aggravated the fear among people. Taking note of the situation, sate police chief Loknath Behera had directed DGP (Crimes) to register criminal cases against the creators and propagators of fake campaigns and messages.