SOCIAL MEDIA AND FAKE NEWS

“People believe what they want to believe when it makes no sense at all”

Can we curb the growing influence of fake news on social media?? I personally think No,because we people also play a big role in spreading rumours on social media which later on ,may turned out to be false.

Social Media has always been an open informative platform for the public where everyone can gain the whereabouts of the world as well as share information or feed.But everything has its own pros and cons.Not everything you come up through is real;it may carry some false notions.With the advancement in Internet services and increased used of social networking sites, like Facebook ,Instagram, Twitter etc,it becomes really difficult to spot the fake news among the real ones.Therefore Social Media is on a height to present untrustworthy ,cognitive information.More than 80% of the people like me ,rely on social media news.People have developed such a habit of misrepresenting information that not only misguides people but also targets them mentally as well as emotionally.

The propaganda of fake news is not new in this era but the medium has increased much from the fewer times.

According to 67% of the survey participants in US ,say that there news are generally gained through social media while in Sweden and Denmark ,30% of the people are dependent upon news from social media.

With such a high figure ,it is well understood that people are connected socially all over the world and along with the tremendous increase in the reach of social media and public engagement.People checking for news online whether through Google,social networking sites,major newspapers,or local media websites and the most important smartphones where mobile applications bring the latest developments to people instantaneously around the world.

According to the Pew Research Centre,55 % of smartphone users receive news alerts and about 47 % of those click through to read the story.

India has been plagued by fake news concerning with superstition ,black magic ,child abuse,public health and others.When the news gets intertwined with religious or caste issues ,the combination can be explosive and can lead to violence and numerous people have been killed when false rumours have spread through digital media .Fake news not only affect public opinion but also makes people biased.

• The recent prevailing news related to the pandemic COVID-19 had been spreaded through Whatsapp and other social sited in concern with the home remedies to cure the virus and that have not even been verified and people were much misguided by these rumours.
• A study by the EUDisinfLab found that at least “265”fake local news websites in more than 65 countries are managed by Indian influence networks with the aim of influencing international institutions.
• Misinformation related to Kashmir has always spread like a fire and had created havoc in the entire country.

Many officials have taken certain steps in order to decrease the spread of fake news.Many a times government,itself had imposed Internet shutdown over many cities as a measure to curb the spread of rumours on social media especially through whatsapp.

‘ Don’t believe or act anything unless you are sure enough so that you won’t have to regret later .’

Thank you.

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