Bhubaneswar: With prominent party leaders taking into social media for assembly polls, a wave of misinformation and fake news by unidentified miscreants have filled several platforms.
Despite several hundreds of fake videos and posts, hoarding up in social media, the Cyber Cell of Odisha police has kept mum on the issue. Sources revealed that many accounts with proxy identity on Instagram, are circulating deepfake videos of 5T Chairman Kartik Pandian and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, in which both are seen discussing misleading topics.
Moreover, several audio clips are being tampered with by the miscreants, to garner more likes and followers. Barring this, fake videos of prominent leaders such as Dharmendra Pradhan and Sambit Patra, are also making rounds on social media. The fake content has spread across X, Instagram and Meta among others. In a bid to crack down on rising cases of cybercrime, the Commissionerate Police last month appointed an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for senior-level supervision along with an inspector rank officer and a sub-inspector.
In addition to this, the state government had been mulling to appoint a DSP-rank officer in all cyber police stations across the state. A cyber-expert in the City said in a usual case of online fraud it takes a minimum of 10- 15 days for the police to nab the culprit. However, in case of misinformation or fake news, each video or post is shared by countless accounts on social media. Hence, the case gets tough for police to act on miscreants.
DEBADURLLAV HARICHANDAN, OP