The Department of Telecom (DoT) is not giving free internet to the users till May 3, clarified the Fact Check unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

In a tweet on Wednesday, the PIB said that the circulation claiming free internet being provided by DoT during the lockdown period till May 3 is fake and misleading.

"Free internet is being provided to all by the departments to enable them to work from home and this can be availed by clicking on a given link," the fake information suggested.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, meanwhile, has clarified that media reports claiming penal action against company directors and management if their employees test positive for COVID-19 are false.

The guidelines instead prescribe penalties if the offence occurs with consent, cognisance or negligence of employer.

In another counter, PIB Fact Check has re-iterated its clarification that the Ministry of Tourism has not issued any letter asking for hotels to be closed till October 15, 2020, due to COVID-19 outbreak.

There was another claim doing the rounds in social media that ICMR is contemplating a study on the immunity of indigenous Assamese people.

The PIB Assam regional unit, however, pointed out that ICMR is not contemplating any such study on the immunity of indigenous Assamese people.

The tweet is a fact check response to another tweet which has claimed that indigenous Assamese people have not contracted COVID19 because of immunity and this has prompted ICMR to study the genetics of such people.

The PIB, in order to check the spread of fake news on social media and following observations of the Supreme Court, had set up a dedicated unit to bust rumours getting viral on the social media.

PIBFactCheck is a verified handle on Twitter that continuously monitors trending messages on social media platforms and conducts comprehensive review of its contents to bust fake news.

Besides, PIB India handle and various PIB regional unit handles on Twitter are posting official and authentic version of any item on Twitter using the hashtag #PIBFactCheck for the benefit of the Twitter community at large.

Any person can submit to PIBFactCheck any social media message, including text, audio and video, to verification of its authenticity.

These can be submitted online on the portal https://factcheck.pib.gov.in/ or on Whatsapp No. +918799711259 or email: pibfactcheck@gmail.com.

The details are also available on PIB website: https://pib.gov.in