Maharashtra police lodge 230 cases against fake news, hate speech regarding coronavirus

Maharashtra cyber police on Saturday said a total of 230 cases have been registered regarding fake news, rumours and hate speech on social media in the state during the lockdown.

"In total 46 accused have been arrested. All concerned police units are informed for swift action on the arrest and consecutive preventive action," read a statement.

The state cyber police highlighted that there has been a rising trend in hate speech cases in the last seven days. Out of total registered cases, 122 cases are against hate speech on social media.

"The other major category is rumours/fake news about the coronavirus with 77 cases. Other misinformation cases are 31," it added.

Among all the social media posts, 106 cases are from WhatsApp, 75 on Facebook, 3 on Tiktok and 4 on twitter.

The police said notices have been issued to take down the posts to all the concerned platforms of social media and the removal process is in the progress.

( With inputs from ANI )