After the announcement of the dates of 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the enforcement of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), a claim is being circulated that the Ministry will be monitoring posts on social media platforms.
It further added that anyone who posts against the government or political party or any personality will be liable for prosecution.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
We received a query about the viral claim on our WhatsApp tipline as well. (More archives of similar posts can be viewed here, here, and here.
What is the truth?: The MCC comprises a set of guidelines for political parties and candidates contesting the elections. It does not mention anything about social media posts made by individuals.
What led us to the truth?: When we performed a keyword search on Google, we came across the set of guidelines as part of the Model Code of Conduct of the official website of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
These guidelines, as specified in the headline, are set in place for political parties and candidates.
It detailed the expected behaviour of political parties during meetings, processions, and polling day and included guidelines for election manifestos.
The guidelines did not include anything related to social media posts made by individuals.
The website carried guidelines for political parties and candidates.
(Source: ECI/Screenshot)
A report published in The Hindu said that the MCC is not a statutory document, which means it is not enforceable by laws passed in the Parliament.
This, in turn, means that if someone violates these guidelines, they might not attract punitive actions.
However, there are several practices and corrupt practices that can attract punishments as per the Indian Penal Code ( now known as Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita).
The report was published on 16 March.
(Source: The Hindu/Screenshot)
Project launched to tackle misinformation: A Times of India report mentioned that the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar spoke about setting a "Myth vs Reality project".
He said that the state authorities will be given power to request removal of false social media posts under sections 69 and 79 (3) of the IT Act.
Team WebQoof has reached out to the ECI to seek clarifications on the viral post and to understand how they are defining "false" posts.
Conclusion: It is clear that a misleading post is being shared to falsely claim that people posting against the government or political parties can be prosecuted as per the Model Code of Conduct.
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