Published Paper Details:

As we all battle one of the most crucial times in our lives, with this Pandemic of Covid-19 that has spread like wildfire across the world, the pandemic is alone not the problem that the world is facing but Infodemic as coined by the World Health Organization, is much more scarier than it appears. According to popular statistics website, Statista, about 88% of the first-time voters in the 2019 elections said that fake news was a real problem. In a country like India, which is a home to the second largest population, spreading of fake news, especially among the illiterates is worrisome as they lack decision making or judgment of the news consumed or circulated before making a decisive choice to believe in them. More than 300 million people consume the internet in India and so are the active consumers of fake news that spreads among the social media channels which gain much attention, the more it is shared, the more likely they believe in that information. The Indian Government has taken measures to curb the fake news menace that had led to many killings and hate mongering in the past. PIB Fact Check, by the Press Information Bureau, has set up a fact check online portal where anybody can post a picture or a message, they have received via social media to check if it is indeed true. With its presence on Social Media platforms, PIB Fact check is making sure that the fake news is curbed right there before it is spread beyond the control and helps to encourage media literacy among the users. In this study, the researcher�s aims to analyse the fake news that were circulated during the COVID-19 Period i.e. from 22nd March 2020 to 2nd July 2020, with the help of content analysis in order to understand the types of fake news being spread and how effectively it was taken down by the PIB Fact Check.