New Delhi: Fact Check Unit of Press Information Bureau has today clarified in a tweet that Department of Telecom is not giving free internet to all users till 3rd May, 2020. The fake information in circulation has claimed that free internet is being provided to all by the Department to enable them to work from home, and can be availed by clicking on a given link. PIB Fact Check has clarified that the claim is false and the link is fraudulent.
https://twitter.com/PIBFactCheck/status/1252933594579824643?s=20
In the meanwhile, Ministry of Home Affairs has clarified that media reports claiming penal action against company Directors and management if their employees test positive for COVID19 are false. The guidelines instead prescribe penalties if the offence occurs with consent, cognisance or negligence of employer. PIB Fact Check tweet on the same can be found at this link.
https://twitter.com/PIB_India/status/1252861361777897472?s=20
The tweet by Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs with the clarification can be found at the link
https://twitter.com/PIBHomeAffairs/status/1252897072526704640?s=20
In another counter, PIB Fact Check has re-iterated its clarification that the Ministry of Tourism has not issued any letter asking for hotels to be closed till 15th October, 2020 due to coronavirus outbreak.
https://twitter.com/PIBFactCheck/status/1252888187363442689?s=20
Assam regional unit of PIB has pointed out that ICMR is not contemplating a study on immunity of indigenous Assamese people. The tweet is a fact check response to another tweet which has claimed that indigenous Assamese people have not contracted COVID19 because of immunity and this has prompted ICMR to study the genetics of such people.
https://twitter.com/PIB_Guwahati/status/1252932862971707392?s=20
Background
In order to check the spread of fake news on social media and following observations of the Supreme Court, PIB set up a dedicated unit to bust rumours getting viral on the social media. ‘PIBFactCheck’ is a verified handle on Twitter that continuously monitors trending messages on social media platforms and conducts comprehensive review of its contents to bust fake news. Besides, PIB_India handle and various PIB regional unit handles on Twitter are posting official and authentic version of any item on Twitter using the hashtag #PIBFactCheck for the benefit of the Twitter community at large.
Any person can submit to PIBFactCheck any social media message, including text, audio and video, to verification of its authenticity. These can be submitted online on the portal https://factcheck.pib.gov.in/ or on Whatsapp No. +918799711259 or email: pibfactcheck@gmail.com. The details are also available on PIB website: https://pib.gov.in
