A central public enterprise under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has floated a tender inviting agencies to provide "solutions and services" related to "fact verification and disinformation detection" on social media platforms.

According to a report in the Indian Express, the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited's tender "seeks to empanel agencies to fight fake news and misinformation on social media".

BECIL was established in 1995 to provide "project consultancy services and turnkey solutions encompassing the entire gamut of radio and television broadcast engineering".

The tender was uploaded on May 13. The submission date was May 20. The scope of work includes services for fact verification, disinformation content detection and flagging, rapid verification of claims and images, and fake news and disinformation response.

The Indian Express report continues: "BECIL has also mandated that bidding firms must be able to 'identify key influencers behind disinformation' and their geo-location. This, cyber-law and other fake news dispelling experts said, opens up avenues for illegal surveillance by the government and was akin to a ‘witch hunt’."

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