FAKE NEWS AND BIASED NEWS

Why is it so important to avoid them?

Coronavirus cases in our country recently crossed over 3000, with 80+ deaths. In the midst of this, it had become really imperative for us to maintain hygiene and cleanliness. Although that is something that many of us should've been doing from a long time, it has suddenly become mainstream and become as a part of fighting a deadly disease as well.

In these troubled times, it is important that we address fake and biased news as well. They have been a problem since a long time.

Keeping all that aside, in these troubled times, it is important that we also address the elephant in the room. Fake news and biased news. It has been a problem since a long time and many big companies and corporations have spent millions of dollars trying to stem it from its roots.

Google has invested more than $300m in a bid to combat fake news, designing tools and ways in which it can curb the spread of fake news on it's search platform. WhatsApp also spent upwards of ?120 Cr. on print and media campaigns educating people on why it is so important to stop fake news from spreading. Livemint also recently reported that WABetaInfo has found a feature in a WhatsApp beta release that helps users search for messages on Google from the app itself, thus helping ascertain whether it is genuine or not.

What is fake news?

Fake news is defined by Wikipedia as a form of news consisting of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media or online social media. Any piece of information or news article, that you believe contains less fact than fiction, comes under this. The problem with fake news is most people will believe it and circulate it thinking that it should be accurate just because "someone really knowledgeable" sent it to them. Believe me, there is nothing to do with knowledge and news. You have to factually verify every news that you come across before forwarding it to someone else.

Fake news has led to massive losses in the past. WhatsApp was under the radar of the Indian authorities after a few years back fake news found on the platform fueled mass guerrilla and excessive lynchings. The platform was then forced to set up a team at India level and then educate the people on why it is so important to not believe in fake news.

WhatsApp was under the radar of the Indian authorities after a few years back fake news found on the platform fueled mass guerrilla and excessive lynchings.

It's not just WhatsApp too. CNBC reported that first time YouTube users have also encountered fake news on the platform. Hindustan Times went ahead to tell that it's not just the prominent platforms, even regional apps like ShareChat and Helo are filled with fake news.

What is biased news?

Biased news is even more dangerous than fake news. The problem here is that the news is factually 100% correct and there is absolutely no problem with the story. However, it is written in a certain way that sparks hatred towards a specific community, religion or race. People who read such news then start to believe that the specific community/religion/race targeted by the news outlet is filled with people having no regard for national integrity. I would like to add that sometimes it *could* be true, but not always. Hence, it is always important that if we feel a strong emotion after reading a story, we question ourselves, "Why are we feeling like this? Was I supposed to feel like this?"

How does it spread?

With the advent of social media, information is available at the fingertips. It is equally easy to propagate both the correct as well as wrong news. WhatsApp's user base of over 1 billion sends 65b messages each day on the platform. Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Facebook user's upload 300 million photos on the platform every day. What is even more troubling is that 60% of people using these platforms have found fake news in some way or the other and forwarded it. This makes it really difficult to find out which news is fake and which is correct. Biased news is even more difficult to identify than fake news.

What we can do to combat it?

It is always important to question ourselves whenever we see a news article that makes us feel a certain way or sparks hatred for a specific community. There are many platforms like BOOM, SMHoaxSlayer, Alt News and even some news websites run campaigns that allow us to send them news for a fact check. Sometimes something as simple as a Google search can also tell you that the news is fake. So it is always important to ponder over these points. Defeat Covid, an organisation for fighting Coronavirus COVID-19, has also been running a campaign that calls out myths and tells the right facts, mainly concerned with the ongoing pandemic. Do have a look at their page here.

The author is a Content Writer for Defeat Covid