India fact-checkers face threats, jail in misinformation fight

Boom’s founder Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with AFP during an interview at their office in Mumbai. India has the world’s largest number of certified fact-checking organisations, Boom Live is among those that methodically debunk some of the tsunami of internet falsehoods, but their efforts can feel like a drop in the bucket. — AFP

MUMBAI: Hunched over laptops in small office cubicles, a group of Indian fact-checkers is on the frontlines of a war against misinformation, braving online abuse and legal threats.

India has the world’s largest number of certified fact-checking organisations, but many feel outnumbered and outgunned in a country with hundreds of millions of Internet users and a climate of growing religious intolerance, hate speech and declining press freedom.