Indian Government Asks Social Platforms To Remove Misleading COVID-19 Videos

It is reported that the government of India has contacted social media platforms including Facebook, TikTok, and Helo to ask them to remove videos with misleading COVID-19 related information targeting Muslims.

According to government sources, Facebook, Helo, and TikTok had received the government’s inquiry about all videos about COVID-19 that were trying to influence the Muslim population and the request to take them down.

This move from the Indian government came after the Ministry of Home Affairs received a report from Voyager Infosec, a fact-checking firm.

It is believed that the videos surfaced after the arguable Tablighi Jamaat meet which has led to a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 infections in the country.

On Twitter, there have been trending campaigns under the hashtags “#data_leak_by_TikTok,” “#BanTikTokinIndia,” “#jihad_failata_TikTok” since TikTok is responsible for the spread of fake news.

A spokesperson of the company said that TikTok was working with the Indian government to fight misinformation and to deliver credible COVID-19-related information.

TikTok has been making contributions in the fight against the pandemic. The company donated 200,000 masks and 400,000 protective suits to medical staff in the country.

WhatsApp also recently partnered with the World Health Organization and the Indian government to launch a dedicated chatbot that is accessible for anyone who wants to search for pandemic-related authentic information.

Meanwhile, Telegram admits that on its platform, misinformation is a problem, saying it is important to differentiate authenticated trustworthy sources and fake channels.

As a solution, using @verifybot, all channels on the platform have to go through a verification proves. Users also receive notifications about channels run by the governments.

>>> WhatsApp Testing A New Feature That Helps You Avoid Misinformation About COVID-19