BHUBANESWAR: Amid alarming rise in circulation of deepfake images, videos and misinformation on social media, Odisha Police has planned to directly receive any such complaints via emails sent on its dedicated unit and cells from political parties ahead of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections this year.
“Any political party will be able to report such complaints via an email to the social media unit of the Crime Branch. While the social media unit will receive complaints at the state level, a political party will also be able to send an email to social media cells in the districts,” said a senior officer of State Police Headquarters in Cuttack.
The social media cells with dedicated manpower are expected to be operational soon, said sources. All political parties in the state will be given the email IDs of social media unit and cells where they can lodge their complaints.
Senior officers asserted they will immediately act upon such complaints and take stringent action. This would help them curb instances of sharing misinformation on social media ahead of the general elections. “The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued guidelines for political parties over carrying out promotional activities on social media. Our social media experts have already started ‘cyber patrolling’ and action will be taken against any organisation/individual found spreading false, provocative or fabricated content on social media,” said a senior police officer.
Sources said if the police find any inappropriate content, then those posts will be removed. However, in case a social media user continues to post inappropriate content then his/her account will be reported to the authorities concerned by the state police. Police will keep a close eye on all types of social media platforms like Facebook, X, WhatsApp, YouTube and others, said sources. Police have also assured that no individual/organisation will be unnecessarily harassed for sharing their opinions on social media.