Govt asks Google, Facebook to remove fake content on food quality

To stop misinformation about food in India, the IT Ministry has asked tech giants Google, and Facebook to remove fake and malicious content or information from their platforms.

The ministry has instructed these firms to take immediate action in this regard and block accounts, who are uploading such videos.

The move comes after FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal complained to IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney about it. He said that the false content on food safety had created fear in the minds of the public and eroded their confidence in food control systems in India.

Such false propaganda is neither good for citizens nor businesses, added Agarwal. FSSAI also talked about the immediate requirement of a nodal officer to resolve the issue quickly.

IT Ministry taking note of the complaint, wrote to Google, Twitter and Facebook, outlined a TOI report. In the letter, it gave a specific instance of fake video related to milk, wherein FSSAI has been projected to have given permission for use of melamine in the milk.

It asked these tech giants to place a system to curb the practice of uploading misleading videos or text related to food. The ministry is awaiting a response from these firms before taking action.

Early this month, FSSAI had come out with new food quality standards and notified 27 new regulations for the same.

Last year, FSSAI had also asked food tech firms to delist non-licenced restaurant partners. All food tech firms including Zomato, Swiggy, Foodpanda, and UberEats have together almost removed 10k non-compliant restaurant partners.