Core Functions

The Digital Media Wing of IT, E&C Department was established in June, 2014 and is responsible for connecting and engaging with citizens for disseminating Telangana Govt. information on the digital media platforms. Its core functions include:

Social Media

  • Manages official Facebook, Twitter, YouTube accounts for Telangana CMO and Minister for IT, Industries and MAUD, among others. All the official programmes of Hon’ble CM and Minister for IT, I&C, MA&UD are webcast live on social media.
  • Verification and badging of accounts undertaken for authenticity and to weed out fake and fraudulent accounts.
  • Conducts Trainings/ Capacity Building sessions with the assistance of industry leaders in social media realm

Portals

  • Single-point of contact from ITE&C Department for all the matters related to design/ development/ maintenance and enforcement of standards for Websites/ Web Portals.
  • GTGW Compliance: Nodal agency to enforce web standards named Guidelines for Telangana Government Websites (GTGW) (www.telangana.gov.in/gtgw). Implementing partner to make Govt. websites/ portals and PDF documents accessible to Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan).
  • Manages the State Portal i.e. www.telangana.gov.in, IT Portal i.e. www.it.telangana.gov.in, CMO website i.e. www.cm.telangana.gov.in, official Govt. monthly Magazine https://magazine.telangana.gov.in, among others.

Open Data Initiative

  • Launched in September, 2016 to put the government data in an open and machine-readable format for the general public use. The Open Data Portal i.e. www.data.telangana.gov.in/ currently hosts hundreds of Government Datasets and Data Resources.
  • Hackathons on Government Data held for students, data enthusiasts, developers etc. to solve the pain points faced by the Governments and citizens.
  • See more at: https://it.telangana.gov.in/initiatives/open-data-unit/.

Localisation of Content

  • An institutional effort to enable and simplify the usage of Telugu on Digital Platforms by Government entities.
  • Under the T-Web Project, efforts are on to make all the Telangana Government websites to also have Telugu version.
  • See more at: https://it.telangana.gov.in/digitaltelugu/
  • Project Telugu Wiki: IT, E&C Dept. is collaborating with IIIT, Hyderabad to bring awareness on Wikipedia – a free online encyclopedia – and to substantially increase the number of articles in Telugu Wikipedia.
  • Digital Telugu Conference
  • Digital Telugu Conference

Campaign against fake news

Fake and misinformation campaigns have become a challenge for the Governments and law enforcement agencies, particularly because the peddlers use social media to amplify the misinformation in a few seconds of time. The ITE&C Dept. felt that notwithstanding the penal provisions under relevant laws, an institutional mechanism that creates awareness on the adverse effects of spreading fake news/ misinformation, that provides authentic sources of information and that verifies the information for authenticity is the need of the hour. In this regard, the ITE&C Dept. has undertaken the following activities to curb the fake news:

  • Held a Roundtable on Curing Fake News at T-SAT on 7th August, 2018 in Hyderabad. The day-long meeting had elicited views from the who’s who of law enforcement agencies, technology intermediaries, print, electronic and new media, cyber security experts, social activists, psychologists and technology enthusiasts.
  • Launched a dedicated website https://factcheck.telangana.gov.in on 2nd of April 2020 in partnership with signatories to the code of principles of International Factchecking Network (IFCN).
  • The Digital Media wing handles the verification of official social media accounts of public representatives, departments, Govt. institutions, and officials. This helps curb the fake and fraudulent social media accounts with malicious and mala fide intentions.
  • A dedicated Twitter account https://twitter.com/FactCheck_TS is opened and is being maintained by the DM Wing. #SayNoToFakeNews and #SwachhSocialMedia hashtags used to propagate the spirit of fighting the fake news menace.
  • Instructions to Citizens and Media issued at regular intervals on best practices to deal with information shared on Digital Media platforms.
  • Covid-19 WhatsApp Chatbot was launched on 6th April, 2020 to provide authentic information to citizens on the Covid-19 pandemic. The Chatbot was made available in Telugu, Urdu and English.
  • Reported posts and accounts that are repeatedly peddling fake and misleading information on Government and its machinery to Technology Intermediaries and Cyber Crime Wing.