Bapatla police adopted strategy to fight fake news

Guntur: Ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, social media has become a platform for political supporters to sling mud against rival politicians through trolling, abuse, body shaming and threatening posts.

It must be recalled that earlier this month, 32-year-old G Geetanjali Devi of Tenali had committed suicide after being trolled on social media for allegedly speaking in favor of a political party. From common people to politicians, no one is being spared by cyber miscreants if they feel that someone is against their party and leaders.
Bapatla SP Vakul Jindal said that to curb such cases, Bapatla police has formed a special team with expert police officers from the cyber department to keep a strict vigil on various social media platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, X and Instagram. Has been formed. ,
He said that since the Model Code of Conduct came into force, surveillance on harassing and abusive posts and trolls on social media accounts has been increased and all necessary measures are being taken to take strict legal action against those posting fake news to mislead. Action is being taken. Public.

Stating that the group admin will be solely responsible for the posts in the group, the SP said that the admin should inspect every post and remove the controversial posts and remove the member responsible for it.
“Group admins should immediately report such controversial posts. Failure to do so will result in the administrator being punished under Section 153A of the IPC and facing five years of imprisonment,” the SP warned. He explained about the nature of fake and controversial posts, which include posts that are provocative, spread hatred, create disputes between different castes, are a threat to national security, morphed photos and videos.