Oct. 3, 2025 (Agency): A parliamentary committee has called fake news a “serious threat” to public order and the democratic process, and recommended amending penal provisions, increasing fines, and fixing accountability to deal with the issue.
In its draft report adopted on Tuesday, the Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology has also called for the mandatory presence of a fact-checking mechanism and an internal ombudsman in all print, digital, and electronic media organisations.
The committee has made a raft of suggestions, including a collaborative effort among all stakeholders covering government, private, and independent fact-checkers to tackle the challenge of fake news.
The committee headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey adopted the report unanimously, showing cross-party support for stepped-up efforts to handle the menace of fake news, sources added.
“The Committee desires the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to ensure that fact-checking mechanism and internal ombudsman should be made mandatory in all print, digital, and electronic media organisations of the country,” one of its recommendations said.
The draft report is addressed to the Electronics and Information Technology Ministry as well, as the panel scrutinises this ministry too. The Dubey-led committee has presented its report to the Lok Sabha Speaker, and it is likely to be presented in Parliament during the next session.
While asking for assigning accountability to editors and content heads for editorial control, to owners and publishers for institutional failures, and intermediaries and platforms for peddling fake news, it underlined the need for amending penal provisions in existing Acts and rules to crack down on its publication and broadcast.
The committee, however, added that this should involve and emerge from a consensus-building exercise among media bodies and relevant stakeholders.
