Karnataka govt. to revive Information Disorder Tackling Unit to combat fake news
The Karnataka government is all set to revive the Information Disorder Tackling Unit (IDTU) to curb the spread of fake news. The unit, championed by
The Karnataka government is all set to revive the Information Disorder Tackling Unit (IDTU) to curb the spread of fake news. The unit, championed by Minister Priyank Kharge, had a trial run in 2024 but was later put on the back burner. Now, with Mr. Kharge taking charge as Home Minister, the unit is all set to become a full-fledged wing under the State’s Cyber Command Unit, headed by a Director General of Police (DGP) rank officer. Speaking in Belagavi on Thursday, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said fake news was causing several problems in society, including law and order disturbances. “Several social media outlets are engaged in peddling fake news. We will take steps to stop it,” he said. The IDTU initiative had earlier raised concerns over whether the government should label news reports as fake news and conduct fact checks, prompting it to onboard independent fact-checking websites for the task.
Despite this, the initiative was discontinued after the pilot phase. “Information disorder can pose serious law and order challenges as well, apart from crimes, especially cybercrimes. It is high time Karnataka Police has such a unit that proactively tackles information disorder in real time,” said a senior police official. Apart from the spurious links used to lure netizens into cyberfrauds, digitally altered media and communally provocative fake news have triggered riot-like situations in at least three instances in Bengaluru, Hubballi and Mysuru since 2020. How IDTU works? In due course, all districts in the State will be equipped with IDTUs. These units will monitor social media and news articles daily, identify potential threats, and have them fact-checked before publication on IDTU’s flagship portal, satya.karnataka.gov.in. Independent fact-checking websites are likely to be engaged for this purpose, sources said.
The units will also focus on deepfakes, fraudulent misinformation, and posts that could potentially trigger communal incidents. Each IDTU will conduct link analysis of posts spreading fake news and provocative content, monitor related social media chatter for over a week, and submit a social sentiment report. In such cases, it will also work with social media platforms to introduce warning labels and curb the virality of such content, sources added. A legal team will be consulted whenever required. The government also plans to deploy predictive data analytics models supported by a structured historical data repository and develop customised AI tools for deepfake detection, video threat identification, and the detection of bot-driven and coordinated attacks. Citizen component In a new component, citizens will also be allowed to request a fact check on specific content they flag to the IDTU.
The BriefWire