MEDIA SCOPE
Have you, like me, been shocked by extreme views from perfectly affable friends, cousins, uncles, aunts or colleagues on Facebook or WhatsApp? Does the flood of bile that humanity seems to be releasing online worry you? If yes, this should gladden your heart.
Last week, Facebook announced ways in which it would tackle fake news. These include flagging stories as “disputed” by using third-party fact checkers and figuring out ways to ensure that fake news sites cannot make ad money easily. Why should this matter? The venom, polarisation and lies online have been the subject of several research papers. In a 2012 presentation, I had referred to the ongoing ghettoisation of media consumption. Several researchers now use the term “echo chambers”. These are places where people chat, form groups and exchange news and information online, with like-minded people. If you are a liberal and only chat with liberal-minded people, the possibility of hearing a moderate, left or right-wing point of view is less. This propels polarisation at an alarming rate.
This is exacerbated by the rise of fake news. In the run-up to the presidential election in the United States in November this year, there were several such news items; Hillary Clinton paying poll firms to rig results in her favour or the Pope supports Donald Trump.
According to one study by BuzzFeed, fake news outperformed real news on Facebook in the quarter just before the election. Fake news writers such as Paul Horner say their stories helped elect Trump. The spectre of a politically inexperienced businessman with right-wing views, who has refused to release his tax returns and whose mental balance is being questioned, worries many Americans and global leaders.
The lies used and amplified through social media before Brexit or Trump’s election are evidence that fake news has real consequences. Not surprisingly, it is being flagged by governments across the world. Last week Barrack Obama worried that “if we can’t discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems”. This week German legislators were considering a fine of 500,000 for every piece of fake news or hate speech that Facebook is unable to delete within 24 hours.
You could argue that Facebook has just 1.8 billion users. But its move is an acknowledgement of the dangers of fake news and the first few steps towards tackling it. Facebook has also got together with Twitter, The New York Times, CNN and others to form The First Draft Coalition that will try to fight the spread of fake news online.
There doesn’t seem to be any study on its prevalence or impact in India. But it exists. The false stories on Indian leaders of the freedom struggle era, on current politics and celebrities are some. There are dozens of websites offering opinions without factual backing, research and none of the checks and balances that any good journalistic organisation would apply to any story. While trawling scores of news sites for a story I came across several such websites. But one look at the “About Us” section is enough to know that this is not a serious endeavour.
And that is among the three things that experts are now recommending readers/viewers should do. One, don’t share any news without first checking the source, especially on WhatsApp. Just after demonetisation was announced, a widely circulated piece on WhatsApp claimed that the new ~2,000 note had a chip that could track the cash. The government denied it.
Two, for any forward — on news, history or a serious piece of information — check the source. And if you can’t, don’t forward it.
Three, try and read all kinds of points of view as a rule. So while customising your Twitter feed or ordering some newspapers, include different types of media. This will ensure that you are not in an intellectual ghetto. Most researchers emphasise that some common media consumption is essential for a healthy democracy. Let us not endanger ours.