TN BJP chief Annamalai clarifies his ‘will control media in 6 months’ remark

Chennai: After his ‘will control media in 6 months’ remark snowballed into a controversy, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on Saturday gave a clarification, stating that people run fake news, comment on leaders and misrepresent Central government’s policies in new media space.

“In the new media space, people run fake news, comment on leaders and misrepresent Centre’s policies. It will be controlled now as intermediaries have to declare the person running it, that’s what I meant,” Annamalai told ANI.

“Once this act (Intermediary Guidelines And Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021) comes into existence, they all will have a problem. Traditional media is mature, but new media is irresponsible in putting out the news”, said Tamil Nadu BJP chief.

While addressing his party workers on July 14, K Annamalai had said, “Within the next six months, you will see that we can bring the media under our control. No media can keep projecting false information continuously. All the media would come under his predecessor L Murugan, who is now Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting.”

K Annamalai has recently taken charge as the Tamil Nadu BJP President.