The Tamil Nadu police formed social media teams on Tuesday to combat troublemakers who spread fake news on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
A team has been formed in all of Tamil Nadu’s cities and districts to ensure that there are no clashes caused by caste, religious, or political negativity.
The state police department has formed ‘Social Media Committees,’ which are made up of 203 trained police officers who are knowledgeable about computers and cyber forensics. They will keep track of the spread of disinformation, rumours, hate messages, and cybercriminals, said Sylendra Babu, Director General of Police in a statement on Monday.
“There is a need to keep a close eye on people who post false information and spread rumours on social media like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook that leads to fights, riots and brings disrepute to the police department,” the statement said.
“Similarly, there is a need to find those involved in cybercrimes such as drug sales, sexual crimes, money laundering on the internet.”
A team led by the superintendent of police, the cyber-crime wing, will be responsible for nine cities and 37 districts that fall under the purview of various police jurisdictions.
“The team will act swiftly to identify miscreants spreading fake posts on social media at an earlier stage, disable their social media accounts and register cybercrime cases,” the police department’s statement said.