Maharashtra Cyber Cell's warning: 113 FIRs filed for fake news on Coronavirus, lockdown

The Maharashtra Cyber cell has registered a total of 113 FIRs against people spreading misinformation and rumours on social media related to Coronavirus and the lockdown.

Social media platforms being monitored constantly

"A total of 113 FIRs have been registered by Maharashtra Cyber department during the lockdown period for spreading misinformation and for spreading communal/casteist hatred on social media," according to a State Home Department report. On April 6, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had said that a total of 100 FIRs had been registered by the Maharashtra Police against the people who allegedly spread fake and unverified news on Twitter relating to COVID-19

According to PTI, officials also said that social media platforms were being monitored constantly during the lockdown. "Of the 113 offences, Beed tops with 15, followed by Pune Rural with 11 and Mumbai at third with nine cases. Satara and Jalgaon districts have seven offences each, Nashik Rural has six and Nashik City, Thane City and Nanded have four cases each," an official said.

In Beed and Shivaji Nagar in Latur, some people shared messages linking the outbreak to a particular community, and cases have been registered in this connection.

Maharashtra Cyber department warned WhatsApp group administrators and members to not post or forward unverified, inauthentic information related to the virus outbreak and warned that failure to adhere to these directives could lead to cases against all participants in a group.

WhatsApp tightens sharing limits

In a bid to curb misinformation, WhatsApp on Tuesday announced that it has imposed a limit on the forwarding of messages on the app. From Wednesday, the messages that have been classified as frequently forwarded messages or sent over five times can now be forwarded to a single chat at a time. The move has been undertaken by the Facebook-owned messaging app to reduce the spread of fake information through the platform.

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In recent weeks, "we've seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation," WhatsApp said in a blog post. "We believe it's important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for a personal conversation."

WhatsApp along with its parent Facebook has been scrambling to curb an explosion of rumours and hoaxes about the coronavirus and at the same time seeking to promote verified content.

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(With agency inputs)