Assam Police gets tough on coronavirus fake news, arrests 33

The instant messaging service, WhatsApp, is often accused of being a major carrier of fake news and rumours. It is now setting in place new measures to curtail the spread of fake news during the pandemic. Stemming the flood of lies is absolutely vital.

False cures, communal hatred directed at specific communities, and fear-mongering about transmission rates have already led to many unpleasant incidents. This is additional stress for overburdened administrations to deal with. Even as it is putting new fact-checking protocols in place, WhatsApp has drastically limited the number of times a ...