By Devjeet Gautam and Kumar Satyam
In the year 2017, “Fake News” was selected the Word of the Year by Collins Dictionary as the use of the word increased by 365% since 2016. A fake news is any misleading and maliciously false piece of information circulating through print, electronic or social media. It affects the law and order of the state as well as the safety and security of its citizens.
Due to fake news and rumours, many have lost their lives. Fake news can also spread communal hatred and disturb the communal harmony in a society. It also affects the election through different fabricated articles, graphics, posts, audios, and videos. We can see the role of fake news in recent U.S. Presidential elections when fake news got a new boom in the present time.
There is a very famous term in the U.S. now used for fake news called “Yellow Journalism”, and in the United Kingdom, it is called “Tabloid Journalism”. A person or media generating fake news have there own personal agenda behind it. It may be to increase their viewership and TRP through eye-catching headlines and cooked up news. They exaggerate the original piece of news or even report the news received through different social media platforms without any further legitimate research. Such rise in viewerships lead to increased profits for them.
According to research agency Kantar IMRB, internet connectivity in India had a reach of 627 million users in 2019, second only to China; and according to another report “India Internet 2019” published by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) in collaboration with Nielsen Holding, it was found that India has 451 million active monthly internet users. We can see the importance and role of the different social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many more.
However, since there is internet access for millions and messages on a platform like WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted (that is, only the sender and receiver can see the messages; any third party can’t have access to these messages), any fake news circulating on such platforms will only come to the attention of the administration if it is reported by someone. Without any knowledge of these rumours and fake news spreading on social media, the government cannot take appropriate measures to curb it.
According to a BBC report, at least 31 people have been killed and a dozen more assaulted in India due to a false rumour of a child abductor present in their town. Due to this rumours spreading through WhatsApp and Facebook, a mob attacked strangers in town, believing them to be the rumoured child abductor.
At present, we can see a lot of fake news being reported by media and circulating on different social media sites regarding the coronavirus. We can see many conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus. Some of the news reported by media about an attack on doctors and police who went for a check-up was later refuted by the local administration. The whole country is under complete lockdown but due to some rumours and fake news, thousands of people gathered in Delhi and Mumbai, increasing the chances of community spread of the coronavirus.
According to a recent report by Agence France-Presse, nearly 100 people have been arrested in India for spreading misinformation and rumours about the coronavirus. As of now, there is no law around fake news in our country, so most of the cases are registered under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 and some sections of the IPC. A country like India needs a very strict law to curb fake news as soon as possible. In India, the government uses internet shutdowns to curb the spreading of fake news, which is not a very effective way.
To curb fake news, the Attorney General of India suggested the linking of Aadhar Card to social media accounts to the Supreme Court. In India, Facebook has partnered with a fact-checking website called BOOM to check the authenticity of messages circulating on it. Another important initiative was taken by Google News in 2018 to train 8000 journalists in different Indian languages to spread awareness about fake news and fact-checking.
We, as aware citizens, can avoid these fake news through simple measures. We just have to re-check the information by some authentic sources like different government websites. We have to carefully verify all photos, audio clips and videos before forwarding them because they may be edited or fabricated. After getting any doubtful and misleading message, we should immediately report to the cyber-cell or the local police station. We should always apply our common sense without getting biased after getting any message.
Our small effort can save many innocent lives.