Fake News - Impact on society

Fake news refers to misinformation or disinformation that is spread through word of mouth and traditional media and more recently through digital forms of communication such as edited videos, memes, unverified advertisements and social media propagated rumours.Fake news spread through social media in the country has become a serious problem, with the potential of it resulting in mob violence, as was the case where at least 20 people were killed in 2018 as a result of misinformation circulated on social media.

Most of the time Fake news conflates three different notions: misinformation, disinformation, and mal -information. Misinformations are false information, but when a person conveys it, believes that it is true and shares. Disinformation is those which are shared intentionally by a person after knowing that it is true. On the other hand, information based on reality but imposes harm on a person, organization, or country is termed as mal -information. After putting all of them together, we call it fake news. This information disorder consists of different forms like satire, false connection, misrepresentation of facts, imposter content, manipulated content, fabricated content, and memes. There are mainly two reasons for sharing fake news on social media. Some people spread it for political, ideological, or business interests, some also spread it for fun. But they do it with an intention. However, again fake news is shared without knowing it’s fake by some people, but with a motive. The motive can be varied from person to person. Few of them think sharing the information before others gives them a sense of pride. While others think they must let people know about the importance of news and some commit it for fun.

Fake News and the coronovirus pandemic

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has brought another wave of fake news stories. Articles giving out advice on how to treat coronavirus have been shared across the globe and, in some cases, put lives at risk. From theories saying 5G masts are linked to coronavirus, and President Trump wondering whether drinking bleach could help cure the virus, the pandemic has been inundated with misinformation, with the NHS taking action to combat fake news online.

Not only is the sharing of misinformation potentially costly to people’s health, but also their psychological wellbeing, according to Dr William Van Gordon, Associate Professor in Contemplative Psychology at the University of Derby. “In addition to unduly influencing a person's decision making, exposure to fake news can lead to false memories, as well as foster anxiety and a catastrophic outlook. It is a good idea to think critically about all news,” he explains.

Fake News:Elections 

Fake news was very prevalent during the 2019 Indian general election. Misinformation was prevalent at all levels of society during the build-up to the election. The elections were called by some as "India's first WhatsApp elections", with WhatsApp being used by many as a tool of propaganda. As VICE and AltNews write, "parties have weaponized the platforms" and "misinformation was weaponized" respectively.

India has 22 scheduled languages, and vetting information in all of them becomes difficult for multinationals like Facebook, which has only gathered the resources to vet 10 of them, leaving languages like Sindhi, Odia and Kannada completely unvetted, as of May 2019. Nevertheless, Facebook went on to remove nearly one million accounts a day, including ones spreading misinformation and fake news before the elections.