scholarly journals TREND OF “FAKE NEWS” LEGISLATIONS – HOW CAN INDIA BENEFIT FROM THEM?

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-20
Author(s):  
Sonal RAWAT ◽  
Prabhpreet SINGH
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Social Unrest ◽  
Rapid Propagation ◽  
The People ◽  
Global World

“Fake News” or Misinformation can be categorized as one of the deadly plagues of this digital global world, as it poses a threat to democracies. It can impede reforms, generate misleading narratives, and potentially cause social unrest in the society. As a result, countries have taken measures to counteract the spread of digital misinformation- ranging from task force bodies to legislations. The Coronavirus Pandemic has accelerated this trend, prompting governments to become more vigilant of the dissemination of fake news. However, this has also sparked a trend for governments to stifle freedom of expression and suppress opposition. India has a susceptibility for the rapid propagation of fake news and rumours, with a large number of social media users on all platforms. Therefore, India will need to adopt measures to tackle it. In this paper, we have focused solely on the legislations introduced by various countries and have discussed their implications. We have also emphasised the positive and negative aspects, outlining what measures India should take to prevent fake news. India should attempt to strike a balance between the government's interests and the interests of the people by allowing considerable freedom of expression.

Governing Fake News: The Regulation of Social Media and the Right to Freedom of Expression in the Era of Emergency

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Donato VESE
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Media Censorship

Governments around the world are strictly regulating information on social media in the interests of addressing fake news. There is, however, a risk that the uncontrolled spread of information could increase the adverse effects of the COVID-19 health emergency through the influence of false and misleading news. Yet governments may well use health emergency regulation as a pretext for implementing draconian restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, as well as increasing social media censorship (ie chilling effects). This article seeks to challenge the stringent legislative and administrative measures governments have recently put in place in order to analyse their negative implications for the right to freedom of expression and to suggest different regulatory approaches in the context of public law. These controversial government policies are discussed in order to clarify why freedom of expression cannot be allowed to be jeopardised in the process of trying to manage fake news. Firstly, an analysis of the legal definition of fake news in academia is presented in order to establish the essential characteristics of the phenomenon (Section II). Secondly, the legislative and administrative measures implemented by governments at both international (Section III) and European Union (EU) levels (Section IV) are assessed, showing how they may undermine a core human right by curtailing freedom of expression. Then, starting from the premise of social media as a “watchdog” of democracy and moving on to the contention that fake news is a phenomenon of “mature” democracy, the article argues that public law already protects freedom of expression and ensures its effectiveness at the international and EU levels through some fundamental rules (Section V). There follows a discussion of the key regulatory approaches, and, as alternatives to government intervention, self-regulation and especially empowering users are proposed as strategies to effectively manage fake news by mitigating the risks of undue interference by regulators in the right to freedom of expression (Section VI). The article concludes by offering some remarks on the proposed solution and in particular by recommending the implementation of reliability ratings on social media platforms (Section VII).

scholarly journals Fakebook: why Facebook makes the fake news problem inevitable

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-530
Author(s):  
Paul Bernal
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Mass Data ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Internet And Social Media

The current ‘fake news’ phenomenon is a modern manifestation of something that has existed throughout history. The difference between what happens now and what has happened before is driven by the nature of the internet and social media – and Facebook in particular. Three key strands of Facebook’s business model – invading privacy to profile individuals, analysing mass data to profile groups, then algorithmically curating content and targeting individuals and groups for advertising – create a perfect environment for fake news. Proposals to ‘deal’ with fake news either focus on symptoms or embed us further in the algorithms that create the problem. Whilst we embrace social media, particularly as a route to news, there is little that can be done to reduce the impact of fake news and misinformation. The question is whether the benefits to freedom of expression that social media brings mean that this is a price worth paying.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Infodemic and Indian Media: An Evaluative Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kinshuk Pathak
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Evaluative Study ◽  
The People ◽  
News Websites ◽  
Media Professionals ◽  
The Government

The global widespread of novel COVID-19 also witnessed fake news being circulated in social media. Dealing with these infodemic and providing authentic information was a big challenge for the government and media professionals. The present chapter is an attempt towards this direction to evaluate the role and initiatives of Indian media in dealing with fake news and providing authentic information to the people. A desktop analysis approach of news channels, news websites will be used to conduct the study. The study also lists various credible sources, myth busters and fact checkers on COVID-19.

scholarly journals Hoax Digital Literacy on Instagram

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-186
Author(s):  
Dedeh Fardiah ◽  
Ferry Darmawan ◽  
Rini Rinawati
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
New Media ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Literacy Education ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Media Messages

The development of communication technology brings forth new media with various multiplatforms. Information spreads instantaneously to all corners of the world through abundant media devices. In social media spaces, every individual can produce informational content and disseminate it, so it appears as a new phenomenon of citizen journalism. Individuals act as both producers and targets of social media content simultaneously. Ironically, due to freedom of expression on social media, various hoaxes appear intentionally or unintentionally and are widely distributed. This study aims to explore the official Instagram account that handles hoaxes in West Java Province and provide a digital literacy education in their post. This study uses the content analysis method, which efficiently investigates media content on both printed form and digital posts. In addition, it also uses descriptive content analysis to describe in detail a message or a specific content. The study object is Instagram @jabarsaberhoaks with an analysis unit of information items about hoaxes and various digital literacy on Instagram @jabarsaberhoaks in 2020.  In total, their number reaches 900 posts. The result of this study shows that the most common hoax is fake news, such as manipulated content, misleading content, fake news, and fabricated content with health, political, and economic themes. Explicitly or implicitly, digital literacy education about hoaxes can be obtained by accessing the information contained in Instagram accounts. The implication is that it is necessary to study the extent of this educational content responded by the public, so media messages can effectively and efficiently be in the form of educational media about interactive hoaxes.

How Fake News Differs From Personal Lies

2020 ◽  
pp. 000276422091024
Author(s):  
Ming Ming Chiu ◽  
Yu Won Oh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Intimate Relationship ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
News Article ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
The People ◽  
School Curricula

Personal lies (girl on date lying to dad) and fake news ( Obama Bans Pledge of Allegiance) both deceive but in different ways, so they require different detection methods. People in long-term relationships try to tell undetectable lies to encourage, often, audience inaction. In contrast, unattached fake news welcome attention and try to ignite audience action. Thus, they differ in six ways: (a) speaker–audience relationship, (b) goal, (c) emotion, (d) information, (e) number of participants, and (f) citation of sources. To detect personal lies, a person can use their intimate relationship to heighten emotions, raise the stakes, and ask for more information, participants, or sources. In contrast, a person evaluates the legitimacy of potential fake news by examining the websites of its author, the people in the news article, and/or reputable media sources. Large social media companies have suitable expertise, data, and resources to reduce fake news. Search tools, rival news media links to one another’s articles, encrypted signature links, and improved school curricula might also help users detect fake news.

Fake News and Social Media Censorship

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-92
Author(s):  
Adebowale Jeremy Adetayo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Ripple Effect ◽  
Fake News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Censorship

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a surge of fake news on social media. This dilemma has caused a ripple effect in society with increasing censorship on social media, which threatens the freedom of expression. The populace cannot effectively progress until they understand the threat posed by fake news and censorship. To protect our fundamental rights of expression, society must learn from librarians. The chapter explores the role of librarians in mitigating fake news. The chapter also identifies possible societal consequences of fake news. The chapter concludes that librarians should inoculate the public to pre-empt them from accepting fake news.

scholarly journals Fakebook: why Facebook makes the fake news problem inevitable

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-530
Author(s):  
Paul Bernal
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Mass Data ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Internet And Social Media

The current ‘fake news’ phenomenon is a modern manifestation of something that has existed throughout history. The difference between what happens now and what has happened before is driven by the nature of the internet and social media – and Facebook in particular. Three key strands of Facebook’s business model – invading privacy to profile individuals, analysing mass data to profile groups, then algorithmically curating content and targeting individuals and groups for advertising – create a perfect environment for fake news. Proposals to ‘deal’ with fake news either focus on symptoms or embed us further in the algorithms that create the problem. Whilst we embrace social media, particularly as a route to news, there is little that can be done to reduce the impact of fake news and misinformation. The question is whether the benefits to freedom of expression that social media brings mean that this is a price worth paying.

Social Media as Disruptive Technologies in an Era of Fake News

2020 ◽  
pp. 250-274
Author(s):  
Osée Kamga
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Silent Majority ◽  
Disruptive Technologies ◽  
The People ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

Since the Arab Spring (2010-2012), there has been a growing interest in the transformative power of social media, with a number of studies looking at its power to mobilize hitherto silent majority of the people, its ability to spread information at a lightning speed or to shape government-citizen relationship. This chapter is part of that trend, and it focuses specifically on Sub-Saharan Africa. It borrows Christensen's concept of “disruptive technologies” and uses it as a framework to analyze the processes of social media appropriation in the political field in that part of the continent. The chapter articulates ways in which social media are transforming the political landscape in the region and wonders about the outcome of these processes in the backdrop of the emerging and spreading of fake news.

scholarly journals Influencing Opinions through False Online Information : A Study

2019 ◽  
pp. 443-449
Author(s):  
Baldev Singh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Fake News ◽  
False Information ◽  
Detection Algorithms ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
The People ◽  
Information Detection ◽  
Fake Reviews

Online Social media generates lot of information now-a-days. It is not legitimate information so there are the chances of fake and false information produced using social media. It is very alarming that majority of the people getting news from social media which is very much prone to false information in comparison to traditional news media which is very dangerous to the society. One of the primary reasons to influence opinion through false information is to earn money, name or fame. In this study, the focus is on to highlight false information generated through fake reviews, fake news and hoaxes based on web & social media. It summarized various False information spreading Mechanisms, False Information Detection Algorithms, Mining Techniques for Online False Information to detect and prevent false online information.

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