HOW WHATSAPP FUELS HALFTRUTHS & RUMOURS
One example of the potential damage social media messaging can inflict was seen last month in Jharkhand. Villagers in Kolhan region, who had been constantly getting WhatsApp messages warning them of child traffickers, lynched seven men, suspecting them to be traffickers. WhatsApp messages containing pictures of dead children had been circulated in the region which has a history of child trafficking. The pictures were fake but there was no mechanism to verify their authenticity.
Increasing Internet penetration, cheaper smartphones and technology that enables social media communication in regional languages are among the factors that have made India the biggest market of WhatsApp. It has become the most favoured communication platform for family members, friends, colleagues and young entrepreneurs. At the same time, it hosts an avalanche of rumours that have led to fatal tragedies.
“WhatsApp has become the most popular form of rich messaging,” said Pratik Sinha, who runs AltNews, a site to debunk fake propaganda. “Many morphed images get circulated. It was an image from Syria that got circulated in Jharkhand. I have seen videos in which people [in the videos] are speaking a different language but when people are in a certain emotional state, it affects them.”
Vibodh Parthasarthy, faculty at the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance at Jamia Millia Islamia University, said,