Only registered online portals to be allowed to operate: Arafat

Seeking Deputy Commissioners help to fight against the spread of falsehood and disinformation, state minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat on Tuesday said only registered and professional online portals will be allowed to operate to ensure accountability and discipline in the media industry.

Arafat said this in a meeting with Deputy Commissioners on the third day of the ongoing DC conference at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city.

Emerging from the meeting, Arafat told the media that he sought the active support of the DCs to combat spreading rumours and misinformation.   

“There are some unregistered online portals, which are spreading rumours. We have a plan to mainstream those,” he told reporters, as he mentioned in the meeting with DCs.

Arafat said deputy commissioners echoed the demands of the journalists as they called for bringing discipline to the media industry, ascertaining minimum qualifications for journalists, and enacting necessary laws for mass media employees.

Arafat said DCs are also anxious about the rumours and we have talked about fighting against rumours.
“But it’s impossible for the information ministry alone to combat the rumours being spread online,” he said, adding that everyone, including the posts, telecommunications, and ICT ministries, has to work together.”

The state minister said DCs have a close link with the grassroots. Their initiative is crucial to checking any untoward incident triggered by false information.

Arafat urged the DCs to monitor the contents being produced by cable operators to ensure their accuracy. He also asked them to enforce the directives regarding the transmission of clean-feed contents.