Fact-check to weed out fake news

SY Quraishi
Former Chief Election Commissioner of India

THE term ‘fake news’ was named Collins Dictionary’s Official Word of the Year for 2017. Even though rumour-mongering is as old as history, fake news has influenced events internationally ever since the explosion of digital technology. Back home, according to the Quint tracker, 92 people have been lynched since 2015 due to fake news, and the count is rising.

A November 2018 BBC study titled ‘Duty, Identity, Credibility: Fake News and Ordinary Citizen in India’ goes into the genesis of fake news. It interviewed 80 people in three countries — India, Nigeria and Kenya — over a one-week period, analysing media consumption habits and how they used Facebook and WhatsApp on their phones for sharing information.

They found that respondents made little effort to figure out the original source of what they shared. Confirmation biases, coupled with trustworthiness of the source (relatives, friends etc.), have served to exacerbate such a disastrous phenomenon. As a respondent said, “My friend has sent this to me, why would he send anything fake to me?”

Analysing Twitter in India, it found that “right-leaning fake news spreads faster and wider than left-leaning fake news.” This is for obvious reason that the right wing has highly organised WhatsApp groups in thousands with a cumulative reach of millions. Fact-checking is almost impossible. After all, when one is being bombarded with a thousand stories every day, will they care to fact-check them to see how much is true? The attractive narrative of fake messages discourages fact-checking.

The report goes on to recommend some measures. It calls for the involvement of all actors — platforms, media organisations, the government and civil society to work together. Fake news has always existed, it’s the pace at which it spreads which has increased manifold due to the communication channels of the 21st century.

Most importantly, it suggests that “journalists investigate further whether or not there is an organised ecosystem of fake news production and dissemination.” This is crucial as there is sufficient proof that a majority of fake news is systematically targeted at voters and sympathisers by the IT wings of political parties. 

During the biggest electoral show in history, no wonder fake news on social media, coupled with paid news, is having a field day — with disastrous consequences. Money power is in full play to bombard voters with fake and paid news. In the aftermath of the Balakot airstrikes, Trushar Barot, who heads Facebook India’s efforts to counter fake news, said on Twitter that he had “never seen anything like this before”. It is reported that Facebook is removing as many as a million fake Indian accounts per day! 

To stem the tide, the Election Commission announced a slew of measures during a press conference on March 11. All candidates have to reveal their social media information in their nominations. The ‘silence’ period of 48 hours before the polls shall come into force on social media as well. The rules of political advertising shall apply to social media the same way as these apply to other news media. Only pre-certified advertisements will be accepted by Google, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and WeChat. The district and state-level Media Certification and Monitoring Committees will have a social media expert to monitor content.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) has formulated a ‘Voluntary Code of Ethics’ for social media, which came into force on March 20. The code highlights the commitment of social media companies towards ensuring fair elections. In accordance with Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, the social media companies will implement the 48-hour silence period and ‘valid legal orders’ of the EC by taking down objectionable content within three hours of the notification. A ‘high priority dedicated notification’ mechanism is being created for the purpose.

WhatsApp has already taken various measures in the past such as tagging of forwarded messages to track trouble-makers. A new service called ‘WhatsApp Tipline’ has given a number which the users can send the information to for news verification. Facebook and Twitter have assured that they will be putting in place an online library of election advertisements for public access. Google announced its plans to launch an ‘Advertising Transparency Report’.

While these are welcome developments, the code seems to be vague. There is no definition of the term ‘fake news’ in the code. It highlights the commitment of the social media companies “to provide an update on the measures taken by them to prevent abuse of their platforms”, but the magnitude of the problem far exceeds the measures they have committed themselves to.

Fake news is not only an election- related problem, but also a serious social and security issue in the 21st century. It’s a source of extremism and a boon for anti-social elements and militants now being legitimised because they have a platform. It is the most important prerogative of social media companies to ensure that they take steps to counter this burgeoning social menace. Profit must come after people.

The stringent application of the Code of Ethics cannot be ignored or taken lightly on the pretext of free speech as ‘reasonable restrictions’ must protect citizens against hate and bigotry through misinformation. We can't simply ignore this phenomenon just because rules might be ‘tougher’ to implement for social media.

With great power of technology comes great responsibility. The content of messaging must be ethical, factual and legal. It should not violate laws, regulations or codes such as the RPA and the Model Code of Conduct. The messages should not carry hate speech. Personal attacks or appeal on the basis of religion or caste need to be properly defined within the code as well. 

Citizens, too, must take individual responsibility to fact-check before forwarding material to their kin. All information must be taken with a pinch of salt, keeping in mind the business model of social media. They should remember that if a service is free, you are the product.