The Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA), a non-profit organisation, has attracted the support of major tech companies like Google, Meta, Twitter, Snap, and Indian social media platforms Koo and ShareChat, as well as telecom giant Jio, to create a self-regulatory organisation that will certify a network of fact-checkers to examine news that is not related to the government.
While others like Google, Meta, ShareChat, and Koo have officially confirmed to MCA that they will join them, Snap, Twitter, and Jio have not, the majority have given their in-principle permission.
MCA President Bharat Gupta met with Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, to discuss the creation of an industry-supported self-regulatory organisation (SRO) in India that would act as one of the nodal bodies for Indian fact-checkers. He also submitted a letter of intent to the ministry outlining his proposal.
This comes after the sector requested that the government allow it to continue using fact-checkers who have earned international credentials, such those from the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).
“Instead of IFCN, a foreign body certifying who will be the factcheckers, there should be an Indian body. We told them that if they can agree on the contours of an Indian body, the government would be more than happy to support it,” the official said. Rajneil Kamath, VP, MCA added, “We have expressed our intention to create such a body. We will be working based on the inputs and suggestions we get from stakeholders for the structure.”
“We have reached out to many major intermediaries, including bigtech and Indian intermediaries, and have received support from some and are expecting support from others as well. Once we have an idea of who all are supporting us, then we will take the next steps,” he said.
The MCA is a section 8, not-forprofit company. “We went public in March 2022. The MCA came together to combat misinformation and work on media literacy and training, building tools to aid in fact checking and working on community and advocacy efforts,” he said.
Rajneesh Jaswal, Head, Legal and Policy, Koo, mentioned factchecking services for platforms are substantially paywalled by private entities, disproportionately affecting younger indigenous platforms and their millions of users”.
Regulatory oversight would be quite helpful, he said, to make sure fact-checking stays impartial. According to sources close to the growth in the sector, this industry collaborative would establish guidelines for the accreditation of Indian fact checkers as well as means to support this Activity. The Indian affiliation and certification organisation would have the authority to accept or reject requests from media outlets and internet intermediaries to be referred to as fact-checkers once it is functioning.
A senior ministry official noted that fact-checkers authorised by the industry-regulated agency can then verify information posted for or against private firms on social media intermediaries.
“Like the government-regulated body for checking misinformation, these agencies can also undertake fact-checking. And the process followed is similar. If an intermediary believes that the content on their platform is genuine, they can refuse to take it down. But then, the protection under (section) 79 (of the IT Act) goes away. And the aggrieved party can take the intermediary to court,” the official said.
According to Jaswal of Koo, creating an indigenous, non-profit fact-checking apex body will help with local capacity development, collaboration, and action alongside foreign organisations.
“We are collaborating to create such a body in India and a lot of work still remains. As and when the governance charter and other modalities are ready, an announcement will be made,” Jaswal added.
The MCA said in a statement that it met with minister Chandrasekhar following his announcement of the new IT policy and gave him a presentation outlining the alliance's initiatives to fight misinformation, raise awareness of its dangers, and form partnerships in order to foster a healthy information culture in society.
“We have received in-principle support for MCA’s efforts from some of the major intermediaries. The MCA will adopt a multi-stakeholder consultative approach and work on developing principles and standards for independent, non-partisan and transparent fact checking and establish the SRO. We are committed to creating an open, safe and trusted internet for all,” it said.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
