Social media platforms/companies have been asked by the Centre to immediately remove contents that mention or refer to the term ‘Indian variant’ of COVID-19 or coronavirus.

This step has been taken to curb the spread of misinformation around coronavirus disease.

Social media platforms have informed that they have received the latest advisory and they are working on it.

On May 21, the IT ministry wrote to all social media platforms emphasising that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not associated the term “Indian Variant” with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports.

“A false statement is being circulated online that implies that an Indian variant of coronavirus is spreading across the countries,” the statement issued by the IT ministry to the social media platforms said.

“The social media platforms have been asked to remove all the content that names, refers to, or implies Indian variant of coronavirus from your platform immediately,” the statement added.