Bareilly: To counter the spread of online misinformation, disinformation and rumours, police in Bareilly zone take help of over 82,000 digital volunteers who disseminate accurate and verified information and spread awareness. These volunteers are akin to peace committees, comprising influential citizens, that help police in maintaining harmony and law and order in society.On Wednesday, Bareilly zone ADG Ramit Sharma held a meeting (in-person and virtual) with some digital volunteers at Bareilly Police Lines to educate them on how to counter misinformation and disinformation on the internet. Police also got feedback from the volunteers and said work on their suggestions would begin soon.Anybody, including students, can become a volunteer. The more people get in touch with the police, the sooner misinformation can be identified and debunked, the ADG said.SSP Anurag Arya said, “Today, cybercrime is rampant, and the only thing which can prevent it is awareness. We, with the help of these volunteers, can easily reach the masses.” “The primary objective is to take help from citizens to debunk misinformation and false trends circulating on social media in real time,” said Rampur SP Vidhya Sagar Mishra.Elaborating how this concept began, ADG Sharma said, “In 2015, a couple in Baghpat eloped, following which the girl’s family filed a writ petition in court, mentioning that a khap panchayat had ordered that the girl should be raped. A probe found that no such panchayat happened. An international media outlet got at least 4,50,000 tweets done on the issue, inviting police outrage. Back then, UP police debuted on Twitter (now X), but our reach was low, which led us to initiate the concept of digital volunteers. In 2016, the UP DGP directed the creation of digital volunteers.”DIG Ajay Kumar Sahani said, “Earlier, we had peace committees that used to inform police about rumours so that appropriate action could be taken before any issue spirals out of control.”Citing incidents like the recent “drone and child thief” rumours, officials said volunteers verified the facts on the ground and helped convey accurate information to the public. “Proactive action of volunteers helps build trust in society, and citizens see the other side of the story before spreading misinformation,” the ADG added.
