Social media is arguably one of the most influential technological (and social) developments of the 21st century. It is perhaps the very reason you stumbled upon this article. Social media has impacted every aspect of life in the last 15 years. From merely a means of sharing pictures, videos and events; it has grown into a powerful medium to influence masses.
Social media has gone from nothing to the most successful model of agenda setting, a feature that other forms of media had a monopoly over. Teachers disseminate information to their students on social media, corporate sell their products through it, governments increase their outreach and NGO run awareness campaigns on social media.
Even the medical professional and law enforcement agencies use social media for various purposes. Events from every part of the world find their place in social media much before the traditional media. It won’t be an overstatement to say that social media has brought the world much closer than ever before. The low-cost mobile phones and unlimited data plans have contributed largely to the enormous success of social media.
However, like everything in the universe, social media also has a flip-side. Antisocial and mischievous elements use social media to spread hatred, negativity and falsehood. One of the biggest curses that social media has brought upon in recent years is the Fake News. In this article we will discuss more about the fake news, its impact and how to tackle it.
As the name suggests, fake news is a piece of false or misleading information, often propagated willingly with malicious intention, on traditional (print or broadcast) or social media. Often the pieces of fake news are harmless (like praising some political leader with modified facts or claiming credit for some achievement); but, at times such news are mortally dangerous. Since May 2017, more than 50 people have lost their lives due to mob lynching. These lynchings are mostly triggered by fake news shared on social media. Such news on social media mostly targets specific groups of society based on the race, religion or creed. Criminal minded people (often to achieve political footage) gather groups of fanatics and take law & order in their own hands. This causes the loss of life and public property.
During the recent period of Covid-19, there has been a spike in fake news targeting and blaming specific communities for spreading the virus. The fake news that the health workers are infecting healthy Muslims with Coronavirus, led to the attack on a medical party in Indore, MP on April 2, 2020. The menace of Fake news has grown so big and evident in India that on October 22, 2019, the supreme court of India transferred all related cases from high-courts to itself. This was done to ensure speedy action and logical conclusion to such cases.
India is not the only country suffering from the hazards of fake news; it is an ever-growing universal phenomenon. To counter this monster, Poytner institute, a non-profit organization for journalism and research, created the International fact checking network, IFCN in September 2015. IFCN supports the online community of fact checking websites by promoting best practices, exchange of information and sharing of resources. India also has various websites and online resources dedicated solely to fact-checking and myth-busting. Some of these are Factly media & research, Alt news, The quint, Boom, Digital Eye India, Factchecker.in and NewsChecker.in. The Google News homepage also has a column dedicated entirely to fight the fake news. Government and various NGOs also run awareness programs on how to spot fake news and how-to fact check.
One of the most important sources of fake news (especially videos) are the Citizen Journalists. On one hand Citizen Journalism helps bring forward various news and issues ignored by the mainstream media, it also becomes a major source of fake news on the other. Citizen journalists with malevolent intent post fake news and doctored videos to spread hatred and falsehood in social media and society. Such journalists have no affiliation with any media house therefore they are very difficult to track or control. At times, a false video posted by a spiteful citizen journalist becomes viral in minutes. Such little time frame makes it literally impossible for the authorities to take any action. More often than not, the damage has already been done before the law enforcement agencies realize.
Among all this bad news, the good news is that people are realizing the importance of fact-checking. A growing number of people understand that something is not true just because it was sent by a trusted person or relative or it has been viral on social media. People are taking caution and exercising responsibility before liking sharing or forwarding any piece of information on social media. Popular social medium WhatsApp has put a limit on the number of forwards on viral messages. Facebook also keeps taking down fake and malicious content from its interface and google has been promoting fact-checking for several years now. However, despite all these initiatives by social media companies and government authorities, the onus lies on the common people to responsibly use social media and fight the menace of Fake News.