Tips to save yourself from fake news

While it is assumed that media in free society tends to be free, but then we are in kaliyuga. This age of information is supposed to bring knowledge to the last stretch of society bringing the benefits with it. Unfortunately this supposedly free news also holds power to strengthen or loosen the grip on power. For the same reason media is a priced possession for rulers. Depending on the type of government structure in country this hold can be direct or it can be indirect. It could be incentivised to promote or penalised the alternate.

However as incessant consumer of news/info it is critical for us to scrutinise before we accept it as trustworthy and make decision based on that. Keep following points in mind before accepting one.

1) Follow the media source/ social media which has lesser control

While it is very difficult to choose the media/social media source since many of them are boosted by network effect. That means we are getting more information on the platform which has wider reach. For example YouTube has more content generated since it has wider audience. So even if the content is heavily and unfairly controlled we choose this source over other smaller platforms which might have lesser control.

X or twitter (post Elon Musk) as a platform has better chance of unfiltered reliable content that others since the selective content moderation has substantially reduced.

2) Use of intelligence services/agency for public discourse

Now it is become a norm sort of to use " intelligence services" (which off course is government controlled) to propagate false information/news. These "leaks" have limited information just enough to damage a reputation (or propagate the cause) and vague enough to carry out any legal proceedings. These "news" are of floating in nature and die down after the hit job. Intelligence agency have no business floating any news in media.

It is also very useful against the foreign governments since not many with audience are interested (within the country) to counter it. It could be used to increase defence budget, aid budget, settle score with foreign governments, reinforce a country in a category etc. It may also be used take the focus away from domestic issue. it would normally be used against country with high visibility say Russia, China, India etc

3) Use of Anonymous sources with no mechanism for feedback

When news agency quoted "our sources" all along, those are most likely being fake news. This kind of state propagated news has identifiable features like disabled comments and any alternate views are not allowed in its timeline.

4) Not naming the culprits

Worst part of many of these fake news is that it will not even name the supposedly "culprit". It is just to create an environment for the intended benefits or prepare the ground for planned action. Take the "foreign interference" claims in USA and Canadian politics. None of the proceeding has gone through legal proceedings. Instead it is only meant for public consumption.

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