India says disinformation used to interfere in countries’ affairs, calls for tech cos to put a check on it

India has called on technology companies to ensure transparency and a check on misinformation on their platforms, cautioning that there is a growing tendency of foreign interference in the internal affairs of other countries through disinformation campaigns.

Addressing the Arria-formula meeting on media freedom in Belarus organised by the Estonian Permanent Mission on Friday, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador K Nagaraj Naidu said that the information revolution has both benefited and weakened media systems.

“Today, the global economy of disinformation rests on the complex interaction between data sets, algorithms and information infrastructure built by technology companies. These algorithms govern not just what information is available to different populations, but also to whom, and with what frequency,” Naidu said.