Pvt Fact-Checkers Outpaced EC in Tackling Fake Poll News: Study

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New peer-reviewed research reveals ECI’s Myth vs Reality Register debunked only 20 fake news items during the entire election season, while independent platforms collectively exposed nearly 300

By TRH Political Desk

New Delhi, April 28, 2026 — A comprehensive new study published in the Indian Journal of Social Enquiry (Volume 17, No. 2, June 2025) has found that India’s independent fact-checking platforms significantly outperformed the Election Commission of India’s own misinformation-busting tool during the country’s landmark 2024 General Elections — raising urgent questions about the state’s capacity to safeguard democratic integrity in the age of viral misinformation and generative AI.

The research, authored by Professor Sidharth Mishra, Chairperson of the Vivekananda School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Delhi, and Dr. Sumedha Dhasmana, Assistant Professor at the same institution, conducted a rigorous content analysis of four major fact-checking platforms — ECI’s Myth vs Reality Register, Alt News, Boom, and Vishvas News — over a period spanning the 18th Lok Sabha Elections and seven State Legislative Assembly Elections held between April and December 2024.

A Democracy Under Digital Siege

The scale of the electoral exercise studied was staggering. The 2024 General Elections involved 96.8 crore registered voters, 1.5 crore polling officials, and 10.5 lakh polling booths spread across India — the world’s largest democratic exercise. It unfolded at a time of unprecedented internet penetration: the study cites Reuters Institute’s 2024 Digital News Survey, which found that 71% of Indians prefer online news sources, with 54% relying on YouTube, 48% on WhatsApp, and 35% on Facebook for news.

This digital dependence, the authors argue, created a fertile ground for misinformation. Citing multiple scholars, the study notes that the 2024 election cycle saw a sharp surge in fake news, with the added complication of generative AI tools making deepfakes and synthetic content harder than ever to detect.

ECI Register Falls Critically Short

The study’s most striking finding is the stark gap between the Election Commission’s official fact-checking mechanism and privately run alternatives. From April 1 to December 2024, the ECI’s Myth vs Reality Register debunked just 20 items of fake or false news. In the same period, Alt News debunked 96 election-related stories, Boom debunked 112, and Vishvas News debunked 76 — a combined total of 284, nearly 14 times higher than the government’s output.

The study further found that ECI’s register was limited in scope — focusing only on misinformation relating to the commission’s own administrative functioning — and largely failed to address the enormous volume of politically motivated fake content spreading across social media platforms. Out of 20 total ECI posts, only five made any attempt to provide additional voter education or electoral awareness content.

Facebook and X: The Primary Vehicles of Disinformation

The researchers analysed 304 fact-checked news items across the four platforms to identify where misinformation was spreading and how it was being addressed. The findings were damning: 90.46% of misinformation circulated on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), with Instagram and Threads carrying the least volume. WhatsApp, YouTube, and Threads were also identified as significant vectors.

In terms of how misinformation was categorised and presented, the study found that false news, fake news, and misleading news were the dominant content types across all platforms, accounting for 39% of all fact-checked items collectively. A wide variety of deceptive formats were identified: AI-generated content, morphed images, doctored videos, clipped footage taken out of context, and scripted viral videos.

Private Platforms Set the Benchmark

On virtually every quality parameter the researchers measured, the three independent platforms outperformed the government register. All three — Alt News, Boom, and Vishvas News — provided hyperlinks to the original viral content, offered comparison of real versus fake material, explained the fact-checking methodology used, and included tipline contact numbers for readers to report suspected misinformation. The ECI register did none of these.

Vishvas News emerged as particularly thorough, with 98.68% of its stories including direct quotes from officials, politicians, police, or other named sources — a mark of strong journalistic attribution that neither Alt News (48.95%), Boom (46.42%), nor the ECI register (0%) matched.

“Media literacy has three-dimensional purposes: preventative, creative, and interactive,” the study notes, drawing on scholar Chandola (2020) — arguing that effective fact-checking must not merely debunk but actively educate audiences.

Implications for India’s Information Ecosystem

The study calls for greater institutional investment in media literacy and a stronger, more proactive role for official fact-checking mechanisms. With India’s information ecosystem now shaped by algorithmic curation — where, as the authors note, “it is the algorithm that decides, filters and suggests the type of information for its users” — the stakes for election integrity could not be higher.

Fake news trends amid Lok Sabha elections

Key Highlights

– ECI’s Myth vs Reality Register debunked only 20 fake news items during the entire 2024 election cycle (April–December 2024)

– Private platforms collectively debunked 284 stories in the same period — Alt News (96), Boom (112), Vishvas News (76)

– 90.46% of election misinformation spread on Facebook and X, making them the dominant platforms for disinformation

– Out of 304 fact-checked items analysed, 293 verified information from multiple sources, indicating a generally high standard among private platforms

– Dominant formats of misinformation included false news, fake news, and misleading news (39%), followed by morphed images, doctored and AI-generated videos

– ECI register used zero direct quotes from political figures or officials; Vishvas News used quotes in 98.68% of stories

– The ECI register provided no tipline, no hyperlinks, no methodology explanation, and no comparison of original versus fake content — failing key transparency benchmarks met by all three private platforms

– The study covers elections across nine states/UTs and the General Elections, making it one of the most comprehensive content analyses of Indian election fact-checking to date

– Authors recommend stronger state investment in media literacy and a wider editorial mandate for the ECI’s fact-checking register