The Tamil Nadu government has issued orders to form a Fact Check Unit (FCU), with 80 staff members, to deal with “misinformation and disinformation pertaining to the State government” emanating from “all media platforms”.
According to a Government Order (GO) issued last month, the unit can take suo motu cognisance of any information related to the government for fact-checking or act on complaints from “various sources”. It will have a Central Task Force (CTF) in Chennai and information analysts in all districts.
On researching the complaints through “fact-checking tools” and “authentic government source of information,” the CTF will divide the complaints into “actionable pool” or “non-actionable pool”. It will consult the advisory team from the government’s Legal and Police Departments and forward them to the authorities concerned for initiating “legal action”.
