The Uttar Pradesh Police has received two awards at the ET GovTechAwards 2026, reflecting the state police's increasing emphasis on technology-led policing initiatives and ensuring effective law and order across the state. The Uttar Pradesh Police's fact-check initiative bagged the Digital Policing & Law Enforcement Excellence award. The UP Police's Meta Suicidal Alert system was also given recognition under the Digital Citizen Engagement & Grievance Redressal category. Talking about UP Police's fact-check initiative, Rahul Srivastava, PRO to the DGP and head of the Social Media Cell, said it was launched in 2017 to tackle the problem of misinformation and disinformation, particularly on social media. For this, it launched the @UPPViralCheck handle on X (which was previously called Twitter). This is India's first fact-checking handle that is operated by state police.
With this, the Uttar Pradesh Police has become the only state police to receive awards in two separate categories of ET GovTech Awards in a single year. The event, featuring around 26 categories, was held in New Delhi on Thursday, and the awards were presented to Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Krishna.
A fact-check department to tackle fake news
The initiative was expanded in July 2022, and similar handles were later made on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp. The fact-check desk of the UP Police operates 24/7, which uses several tools and methods such as reverse image searches, geolocation analysis, and metadata examination to tackle the issue of fake news.
Significant impact of UP Police
This initiative had a significant impact, with the @UPPViralCheck handle recording 3.71 million impressions. The police have also issued more than 4,100 clarifications and registered 318 separate first information reports (FIRs) for those spreading fake news. This, the police said, has helped in preventing communal tensions and tackling other issues across the state.
UP Police's Meta Suicidal Alert System
Talking about the UP Police's Meta Suicidal Alert system, this is the first time a state police department has decided to use a system along with Meta to help prevent suicide. For this, Meta alerts the UP Police about a person's suicidal post on Facebook and Instagram. After this, the police track that particular individual's location and help him or her.
