With lockdown 4.0 ending today, many are anticipating that the relaxations allowed by the state will follow and they will be able to resume their normal life sans the COVID-19 scare, according to a slew of rumour mills doing the rounds on social media. The city cyber police have accordingly braced themselves and are keeping a watchful eye on the people who are either forwarding unconfirmed messages or putting up posts on social media which could lead to confusion and unrest.
It was noticed that a number of posts, fake news and websites has cropped on the internet, which seemed genuine to the innocent eye, but had fake and wrong news being disseminating to the public. These posts had gone viral on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, which people blindly forward, without checking the authentication of the same.
In a crackdown on such posts, the city cyber police have set up a dedicated team to monitor the social media and take cognizance on any fake social media post, which could cause unrest, panic in the society. An official said, "The team keeps an eye on social media platforms and follows trends to identify the pattern. Platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and YouTube have been at the highest receiving end of such inflammatory content.
While the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order in connection to the extension of lockdown in the containment zones, there was still a cloud of confusion as to what it means for the state and the city. An official said, as soon as the order started making the rounds on social media, a number of websites, with 'news content' cropped up on the World Wide Web, with keywords like lockdown extension and lockdown 5.0.
"There was a major spurt in circulation of fake news and rumour mills, which had to be stopped at the earliest to avoid any communal riot breaking out at the dawn of a pandemic. These posts were misleading and baseless in nature," said Harish Baijal, DIG, Maharashtra Cyber Police. Other platforms like Instagram, Telegram and TikTok too are under constant scrutiny, where every move is being watched on.
