Administrators of WhatsApp groups should change settings in their respective groups so as to allow only them to put out posts, Harish Baijal, DIG (Cyber), Maharashtra, has said in a video appeal.

"In view of the coronavirus situation, I appeal to everyone who has created a WhatsApp group, they should change the settings so only admins can post on the groups," Baijal said.

Baijal's appeal comes in light of the government upping its drive to curb fake news and misinformation, which has become rampant during the coronavirus pandemic and its resultant lockdown.

Various governments have issued advisories asking users to be careful before putting out information that could be wrong.

On April 8, the Maharashtra Police issued a list of dos and don't for WhatsApp users and admins in the form of an advisory, which also reminded them that they could be prosecuted if they spread misinformation on the popular messaging platform.

It also urged citizens to "not post, share, forward, disseminate, any message, content, pictures or photos, videos anything that could promote enmity on grounds of religion, nationality, race, language and other grounds of discrimination or disrupt public order, decency and morality."

In his video appeal, Baijal said that WhatsApp admins were responsible for all posts put out in their groups, and that restricting WhatsApp settings to only allow admins would help them escape this.