BBC: Fake news sources overlapped with PM Modi’s support networks on Twitter

If British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) research is anything to go by, the fake news in India is on a rise solely because of “rising tide of nationalism”. Also, the researchers say that right-wing networks are more organised than the left-wing ones in pushing “nationalistic fake stories” more.

BBC has found that in the sub-continent, “facts were less important to some than the emotional desire to bolster national identity. There was also an overlap of fake news sources on Twitter and support networks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the findings said.

The BBC World Service-commissioned research was part of “Beyond Fake News” — a series run on the television, radio and digital platforms in which users provided unprecedented access to their encrypted messages on the social media applications. The users’ data were collated from India, Nigeria and Kenya.

“In all three countries, distrust of mainstream news outlets pushed people to spread information from alternative sources, without attempting to verify it, in the belief that they were helping to spread the real story. People were also overly confident in their ability to spot fake news,” the researchers noted.

The major glitch that may have hampered the process is that researchers made little or no attempts to question the source of fake news messages. “Widespread sharing of false rumours on WhatsApp has led to a wave of violence in India, with people forwarding on fake messages about child abductors to friends and family out of a sense of duty to protect loved ones and communities,” the report said.

For the record, more than 30 people have been killed in India in incidents where fake news created havoc on various social media platforms. “We examined one case in detail — the deaths of Nilotpal and Abhishek in Assam — while another reporter travelled to Mexico to see how WhatsApp rumours fueled similar deadly violence there,” the BBC report said.

Director of the BBC World Service Group Jamie Angus blamed poor literacy standards for these malicious content to spread on social media. “Poor standards of global media literacy, and the ease with which malicious content can spread unchecked on digital platforms mean there’s never been a greater need for trustworthy news providers to take proactive steps,” Angus said in a statement.

“We have put our money where our mouth is and invested in real action on the ground in India and in Africa,” he added.

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