Publishing news or story without factcheck can land you in jail and attract crores of rupees in penalty.
MUMBAI, Mar 4 (The CONNECT) – On February 26, 2024, Pankaj Bansal, Founder and CEO of Newspatrolling.com, received a request from a reputable media agency for a new post that needed to be published. Since such requests were a routine affair, the news story was posted on Newspatrolling.com.
But later, it turned out that the news story was fake. Pankaj received a call from the legal department of the affected party. The fake news story was about a false report on partnership between two renowned businesses. It is highly likely that the fake news was circulated with the goal to influence the stock markets.
Bansal quickly deleted the fake news before it became viral and wriggle out of the crisis by apologizing.
Scamsters are apparently running mega operations to dupe bloggers and news portals. With fake news posted online and with potential to go viral, scamsters can achieve their illegitimate goals.
Bloggers and news portals play a key role in providing information and spreading awareness. It is, hence, important to check the authenticity of the content before publishing any news or story provided by a third party.
This needs to be done even when the shared content may be coming from a reputed media agency. It is important to understand that scamsters are very smart and can fool the best of the best. In the past, everyone from police officers to judges and even government officials and politicians have been conned by scamsters.
If you publish any content without verifying the authenticity, and if it turns out to be fake news, you could be jailed and charged a heavy penalty. The affected party may even file claims worth crores against you for defamation or causing financial losses linked to the fake news you posted on your blog or news portal.
While currently there is no direct law for fake news, you can still be charged under various sections of the IPC. The charges will depend on the type of fake news published on your blog or news portal. Below are some of the charges that can be applied for spreading fake news.
Section 153 of IPC – Any illegal act that has been done with the intention of provoking a riot. The fake news you publish on your website can be considered as an illegal act. If charged under Section 153, you can face jail term of up to 5 years or fine or both.
Section 295A of IPC – This law covers any act that may hurt the religious sentiments and beliefs of people of another religion. It is possible that the news story you posted on your website may be charged under Section 295A of IPC. You can be jailed for 3 years or fined or both.
Section 505 of IPC – This law covers any statement, report or rumor that may have been published with the intent of creating public mischief. You can be imprisoned for 3 years and charged a fine or both.
Proposed Social Media Bill – In 2023, a new bill was proposed in the parliament for dealing with fake news. It called for the creation of a Social Media Regulatory Authority that can keep a check on fake news. The proposed bill covers a wide variety of fake news items that may be shared on social media platforms. The bill has provision for jail term of up to 7 years for the individual found guilty. Such individuals may also be fined up to Rs 10 lakh. Or both jail term and fine can be applicable, depending on the type of crime.
Given the quantity of fake news being shared online, the bill may be passed later this year or in the near future. It is possible that changes could be introduced in the bill before it becomes a law. It will be great if the new bill makes provisions to identify the source of the fake news, instead of just penalizing the blog or news portal where it was published.
Bansal requested bloggers and news portals to not post any news or story randomly without any factcheck. Fraudsters can spread fake news and make money at bloggers’ cost.
Always verify the news or story before posting on your website, even when it may be coming from a known or reputable source, Bansal said.
Scam Alert! Bloggers, Beware of Fake News Traps
