Free and vibrant press vital in a democracy, says PM Modi
"World Press Freedom Day is a day to reiterate our unwavering support towards a free & vibrant press, which is vital in a democracy," his tweet read.
The Prime Minister has also hailed social media as an active medium of engagement.
Modi, who is one of the most followed political leader on Twitter across the globe, tweeted, "In today's day & age, social media has emerged as an active medium of engagement & has added more vigour to press freedom."
However, experts have also raised concerns pertaining to the authenticity of news found on social media sites.
Latest trends have projected over 90 percent of the news circulated on social media sites as fake.
Meanwhile, in an effort to combat the prevailing situation, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is set to launch a news site, Wikitribune, to tackle fake news.
"Wikitribune is news by the people and for the people," Wales was quoted as saying in the media
"This will be the first time that professional journalists and citizen journalists will work side-by-side as equals writing stories as they happen, editing them live as they develop and at all times backed by a community checking and re-checking all facts," he added.
In recent months, Facebook and Google have endured sharp criticism from web users for the surge in fake news on their respective platforms.
image: Narendra Modi Twitter account
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