Govt creates FCU to target its political rival, silence critics: AIADMK leaders

CHENNAI: Day after the Tamil Nadu government established a Fact-Checking Unit (FCU) to counter misinformation, disinformation, and fake news, the leadership of the prime opposition party called it a "political tool" to silence its critics in social media and target its rivals. However, a few activists expressed that such a mechanism is the need of the hour to thwart the misinformation campaigns with the intention to disturb communal harmony.

In the meantime, they expressed that the unit should act appropriately and it should not be weaponised against the ruling party's political rivals and persons with a different ideology.

Spokesperson of AIADMK and former Minister D Jayakumar said the DMK government established FCU to "monitor and target" their party cadres. They might use it as a tool to silence their critics and their genuine posts on social media to highlight the government's wrong policies and poor administration.

Joining the issue, joint secretary of AIADMK's IT Wing C T R Nirmal Kumar said the government move has a hidden agenda. The FCU can be used to curb the free flow of information on government programmes and policies on multiple platforms.

"They can easily write off the complaints or information on government schemes by simply tagging it as misleading information. They can also take a legal course of action apart from taking down the posts from social media such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. They can also disable the social media handles of whistleblowers by discrediting their posts," he further said.

Political critic Aazhi Senthilnathan differs from the views of the opposition party. He stated that FCU is a "need of the hour" but it should be used for the purpose of curtailing misinformation that leads to unwanted socio-political issues.

Recalling the spread of fake news that migrant labourers from Bihar were brutally assaulted and killed in Tamil Nadu on social media a couple of months ago, Senthilnathan said, "Fake news is a big threat. It is necessary to have a mechanism to counter fake news and rumours."

He further said it should be used for the purpose of creating it to keep away misinformation campaigns that spread hatred and disturb the social fabric.