Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has decided to review two bills aimed at curbing the spread of misinformation and hate speech following widespread criticism from opposition parties and civil society, according to two people aware of the developments.
The proposed bills—The Karnataka Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Bill 2025 and The Karnataka Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention and Control) Bill 2025—will be sent to various departments for consultations before they are presented before the cabinet.
“The bills were drafted very badly and neither has been cleared by the Department of Home nor IT (information technology). The bills will definitely happen but not in their current form. The bill needs a lot more reiterations,” said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity.
Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s minister for IT/BT, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, told ThePrint the draft bills had not been placed before the cabinet.
“There will be due consultations from the home department and the IT/BT department,” Kharge told ThePrint.
The proposed bills add to the growing pressure on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, whose 2-year administration has been facing a steady stream of challenges, making it harder for the 76-yr-old to navigate the rest of his term.
The challenges include growing allegations of corruption, rebellion within the Congress ranks over issues like the release of a fresh caste census as it reduces the perceived population size of dominant communities like Vokkaligas and Lingayats and the withholding of development funds.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached nearly Rs 100 crore worth of property of Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) linked to Siddaramaiah. And in the last 2 days, two senior Congress legislators and close aides of Siddaramaiah have levelled charges of corruption against the Congress government.
Raju Kage, a four-time MLA from Kagwad, Monday threatened to resign as the government had failed to release any funds promised 2 years ago.
“The administration has completely failed in Karnataka. I am hurt and leaning towards resigning (as MLA). If I meet the CM in two days and resign, it won’t be a surprise,” Kage told reporters Monday.
On Sunday, Siddaramaiah’s former political advisor, B.R. Patil, alleged that bribes were being demanded for allotment of houses through Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation Ltd.
Also read: Siddaramaiah cites 1995 law to justify Congress high command’s decision to scrap 2015 caste survey
‘No posts on anti-feminism, superstition’
The draft bills, discussed in the state cabinet last week, prohibit the spreading of any information the government deems “fake”, “abusive” or “obscene” on social media platforms. This includes content considered “anti-feminism” or an “insult to the dignity of the female”.
The bills also prohibit the publication of content promoting superstition. The draft bill proposes to ensure that content on topics such as science, history, religion, philosophy and literature posted on social media is based on authentic research.
Violations could lead to imprisonment of up to 7 years, fines of up to Rs 10 lakh or both.
One provision prohibits the “publication of content amounting to disrespect of Sanatan”, which critics said would be used to curb criticism of caste.
“The Karnataka government is going to bring a bill that will send you to jail if you disrespect Sanatan Dharma. Caste is an important part of Sanatan. So, from now on, if you criticise the caste system, will you go to jail? Stop this bill. Organise a public consultation on how to fight fake news,” Vinay Sreenivasa, an advocate and activist posted on X.
ಸನಾತನ ಧರ್ಮ ವನ್ನು ಅಗೌರವ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಜೈಲಿಗೆ ಹೋಗುವ ಮಸೂದೆ ತರಲು ಹೊರಟಿದೆ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸರ್ಕಾರ. ಜಾತಿ ಸನಾತನದ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಭಾಗ. ಇನ್ಮುಂದೆ ಜಾತಿ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ ಟೀಕಿಸಿದರೆ ಜೈಲೇ ಗತಿನ ? Stop this bill. organise a public consultation on how to fight fake news @PriyankKharge@HateSpeechBeda @ShivasundarShi1 pic.twitter.com/aQcu0MQPu2
— ವಿನಯ್ ಕೂರಗಾಯಲ ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ Vinay K S (@vinaysreeni) June 22, 2025
‘Misinformation combat cell’
The original plan to regulate misinformation was announced soon after the Congress came to power in 2023.
The government then proposed setting up a committee to fact-check social media platforms and news outlets disseminating misinformation with malicious intent.
The committee would include an ADGP-rank officer, an additional advocate general, government officials and even members of civil society to weed out any misinformation online and to ascertain the intent, if any, behind the sharing of any information.
At the time, Karnataka’s Information Technology minister, Priyank Kharge loosely termed it as “misinformation combat cell”.
The Editors Guild of India had also raised a red flag on the proposed fact-check unit.
“While admittedly there is a problem of misinformation and fake news, especially in the online space, efforts to check such content have to be by independent bodies that are not under the sole purview of the government, lest they become tools to clamp down on voices of dissent,” the guild wrote in a letter in August 2023.
The Congress has filed cases against BJP national president J.P. Nadda, the party’s IT cell chief, Amit Malviya and state president B.Y. Vijayendra in May last year for posting an animated video of the Congress allegedly favouring Muslims.
Earlier this year, the Congress filed another case against Malviya and news anchor Arnab Goswami over their claims that the Congress had built massive offices in Turkey.
Two years on, the proposal to curb fake news came out in the form of a draft bill. But this time it was under the Kannada and Culture department and not the IT/BT or even the home ministry.
One person said that it was a possible “administrative error” to let the Kannada and culture department helm this proposal.
“The leaked bill is very different from what the IT department had originally proposed,” the person cited above said, requesting anonymity.
‘Consultations on’
On Monday, the BJP held protests against the Siddaramaiah government across the state. The party’s state president, Vijayendra, said the government had delivered a big “zero” on governance, development and work orders.
“The rot in Karnataka under @siddaramaiah’s government runs so deep that even Congress MLAs are now threatening to resign! Earlier, Congress MLAs like K Shadakshari, Basavaraj Shivganga, Basavaraj Rayareddi, and BR Patil raised their voices. Now, Kagwad MLA Raju Kage threatens to quit after waiting 2 long years for work orders on ₹25 Cr of sanctioned development funds. When even Congress MLAs are helpless, imagine the plight of Opposition MLAs trying to serve their people under this corrupt, paralyzed regime…” he said in a post on X, calling for Siddaramaiah’s resignation.
ZERO governance. ZERO development. ZERO work orders.
The rot in Karnataka under @siddaramaiah’s government runs so deep that even Congress MLAs are now threatening to resign!
Earlier, Congress MLAs like K Shadakshari, Basavaraj Shivganga, Basavaraj Rayareddi, and BR Patil… pic.twitter.com/b5kxeDDIiY
— Vijayendra Yediyurappa (@BYVijayendra) June 23, 2025
The chief minister dismissed the allegations of corruption against his government.
“I will speak to him,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in Raichur on Monday, referring to threats of resignation made by Kage.
Siddaramaiah has been fighting several battles and most of them are from within his own party. Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has been pushing to replace Siddaramaiah, forcing the party high command to keep its promise of giving the two leaders turns in the top chair.
Siddaramaiah faced a setback when the party high command asked him to conduct a fresh caste census, which took away any advantage he had against Shivakumar or other members of his cabinet who openly called for the scrapping of the 2015 survey.
The cabinet has also shelved, at least for now, a proposal to bring a crowd management bill after the Chinnaswamy stadium stampede. The government has also come under criticism for proposing a Rs 17,700 crore tunnel road project in Bengaluru, widely seen as a move to placate Shivakumar.
The government is yet to set up the anti-communal force it promised after the brutal murder of history-sheeter and Hindutva activist Suhas Shetty in Mangaluru. This was followed by a retaliatory killing of a Muslim youngster, after which several minority leaders of the Congress quit the party in protest.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)