The legislation aims to establish a complete ban on the circulation of fake news across social media platforms.
Published Nov 10, 2025 | 11:11 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 10, 2025 | 11:11 AM
Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge. (X/priyankkharge)
Synopsis: Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge expressed hope that the proposed Karnataka Misinformation Bill will be tabled at the winter session of the Karnataka Assembly, slated to be held in Belagavi in December. The legislation aims to establish a complete ban on the circulation of fake news across social media platforms.
Karnataka Information Technology and Biotechnology Minister Priyank Kharge expressed hope that the proposed Karnataka Misinformation Bill will be tabled at the winter session of the Karnataka Assembly, slated to be held in Belagavi in December.
Defending the Bill, he said it aims to name and shame those spreading falsehoods and regulate platforms that amplify such misinformation, disinformation and fake news. He reiterated that the Bill has no intention of curbing free speech, creativity, satire, and opinions.
He was delivering a keynote address at “Truth, Trust and Technology”, a policy dialogue on misinformation and fake news regulation hosted by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) and Ikigai Law in Bengaluru, on Friday, 7 November.
If the proposed Karnataka Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Bill, 2025, becomes a law, a six-member social media regulatory authority will have the power to restrict, block, and ban any content deemed to be false or misleading. The authority will play a key role in ensuring that fake news and harmful content cannot be promoted or distributed online.
The legislation aims to establish a complete ban on the circulation of fake news across social media platforms.
To do this, the government plans to set up a regulatory body named the Fake News on Social Media Regulatory Authority. It will have the Minister for Kannada and Culture, serving as the ex officio Chairperson, one member each from the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, two members representing social media companies, appointed by the state and a senior IAS officer designated as the Secretary of the Authority.
Fake news is defined as “misquotation or the false and/or inaccurate report of one’s statement; editing audio or video which results in the distortion of facts and/or the context; or purely fabricated content.”
Misinformation is defined as “knowingly or recklessly making a false or inaccurate statement of fact, whether wholly or in part, in the context in which it appears, excluding opinions, religious or philosophical sermons, satire, comedy or or parody or any other form of artistic expression if a reasonable man of ordinary prudence does not pursue such communications as statements of fact”.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil with inputs from Anisha Reddy.)
