By now, the idea that rumours and fake news are prevalent in social media usage in much of the world is well established. What are the challenges that India, specifically, will face in addressing this issue? And how can a Fight Fake News Day help? Here is my take on it.





Awareness and education will play a bigger role than technological tools. Samir Patil, the publisher of Scroll, makes a strong case for this approach in his excellent piece in the New York Times ( link ). He likens the fight against fake news to immunization programs that India has run in the past against transmissible diseases like polio. While fake news is unlikely to ever garner that level of public funding, there is still a need to sensitise people to the existence of this problem, and come to expect that people will not forward/share every sensational piece of information without first reflecting on it. An inflection point has been crossed in the amount of information people consume on their phones every day. So I think a change in mindset towards the information one receives has become essential.





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Websites like AltNews, BoomLive etc are working hard at verifying information, but they have a long way to go in terms of market penetration and mindshare. I personally haven't come across many people actively using these apps (or their Whatsapp numbers), despite heavy usage of social media in general. Come to think of it, I can't recall a single fact checking app that has gained currency in the West either! Unless these apps increase usage dramatically, the volume and velocity of fake news (both the politically motivated kind and the non-political kind) will continue to overwhelm their attempts. India has a large, linguistically diverse population and that makes the job of these apps that much harder. There's also this disturbing possibility that anyone who sees the need for such apps is also thoughtful enough not to be susceptible to fake news in the first place!





Some studies have shown that people are more likely to forward information if it already agrees with their existing sentiments or biases. The most common example of this is information that somehow shows your country in a good light (the best national anthem, the best monuments and so on). India is a curious combination when it comes to this. There is no dearth of patriotic feelings about the country as a whole. At the same time, there are ample number of social faultlines and prejudices if one observes our society more closely. Hence, I will not be surprised to learn that both positive and negative pieces of misinformation are flying fast and thick through India's social media networks! If you get conditioned to accept all the good news uncritically, it's only a matter of time before you start giving credence to hateful rumours and fear mongering as well.





For my part, I've recently floated this idea of having an annual Fight Fake News Day (I’m open to better names if you have suggestions), similar to awareness days for the Environment, for Press Freedom and so on. On this day, all the players in the news and social media ecosystem can run campaigns to educate people about the problem of fake news. Hopefully, a concerted and periodic effort of that kind can move the needle more effectively than waiting for the gradual realization of the seriousness of this problem in the minds of the general public.





If you like this idea of a “Fight Fake News Day”, do sign my petition to show your support - https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fight-fake-news-day

The more the signatures, the more likely that this will come about!