The Karnataka government has appointed IPS officer Pronab Mohanty to “oversee” its unit tasked with fact-checking ‘misinformation’ online, Economic Times reported this morning. Mohanty is currently the Additional Director General of Police for Cyber Economics and Narcotics, under the state’s Criminal Investigation Department.
Five companies have also been shortlisted to set up the “Information Disorder Tackling Unit” (ITDU), following an expression of intent released by the state government last year. They include Gauri Media, Logically Informedia, Trylika Technology, Newsplus Communications, and OW Data Leads. Economic Times added that only Gauri Media and Newsplus Communications are experienced in fact-checking Kannada news bites.
Proposed last June, the state-appointed unit is tasked with tackling misinformation, disinformation, and ‘malinformation’ online, a particular concern for the state government in the run-up to the 2024 general elections.
Why it matters: Despite the Karnataka IT Minister’s repeated assurances that the ITDU won’t be used to censor people, that a state-appointed unit is being empowered to fact-check ‘misinformation’ online could impact the free speech of Indian citizens in the run-up to the polls. A similarly designed unit proposed by the Indian government last year is currently facing multiple constitutional challenges before the Bombay High Court on similar free speech grounds. As the petitioners argued there, the Indian government’s unit empowers it to become the judge, jury, and executioner of what constitutes the truth online, and unless multiple transparency-oriented safeguards are implemented in Karnataka’s case, the same criticisms could very well apply to its unit too. The Bombay High Court’s judgment on the validity of the Centre’s unit is due on January 30th—its findings on these issues may shed light on the legitimacy of Karnataka’s counterpart as well.
STAY ON TOP OF TECH NEWS: Our daily newsletter with the top story of the day from MediaNama, delivered to your inbox before 9 AM. Click here to sign up today!
