The trend of dissemination of hate speech on social media platforms continues to rise, with the Cyber police officers recording an increasing number of cases over the last few days.
Since the announcement of the nationwide lockdown on March 21, the Maharashtra Cyber police have been monitoring cyberspace for any problematic content, especially in the current environment where fake news and rumours surrounding the novel coronavirus are a dime a dozen. The recent discovery of widespread infection among attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat’s gathering in New Delhi has fanned the fire, with communally charged posts now surfacing with worrying frequency.
According to Cyber police officers, 172 cases have been registered against instances of fake news, rumour-mongering and hate speech over social media in the State since the start of the lockdown. Twelve cases were registered in the last 24 hours.
‘A rising trend’
Superintendent of police Balsing Rajput, Maharashtra Cyber, said, “There is a rising trend in cases of hate speech over the last seven days, with 87 cases being registered in this regard. The other major category is of fake news or rumours with 61 cases being registered, and 24 cases of other kinds of misinformation have also been recorded.”
Mr. Rajput said of the total cases, 166 are First Information Reports, while six are non-cognisable cases. The police have so far arrested 32 people and identified 108 others who are being traced.
The most number of cases were observed on WhatsApp, with Facebook, TikTok and Twitter following close behind. Take-down notices have been issued to all the platforms concerned and 32 posts have been removed so far. “There are 85 posts on WhatsApp which can’t be removed due to the nature of the technology and its encryption. There are 55 posts on other mediums and we have issued notices to them. The process of removal is in progress,” he said.
Mr. Rajput said every effort is being made to reach out to citizens and impress upon them the importance of not forwarding or posting unverified information on social media, particularly WhatsApp, as it is difficult to stem the flow once a post starts circulating on the popular messaging app. The police have already issued advisories at the State and city level, warning against rumour- or hate-mongering on WhatsApp.
The police have warned administrators of WhatsApp groups that they will be held as responsible as the members concerned if such instances are observed.
