HYDERABAD: "We are dealing with information pollution today akin to air pollution," said Alt News founder and fact-checker Pratik Sinha on Friday at the Hyderabad Literary Festival at Vidyaranya School.
"We all have received WhatsApp forwards which are not authentic. A few days ago, a fake snippet was being circulated which said JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh had faked her injuries. All social media platforms are being used for propaganda," he said.
"During the Balakot strike, 300 persons had purportedly been killed. Newspapers around the country splashed this as news on their front pages the next day. But strangely, there were no photos of dead bodies. When this loophole was pointed out, a photo of a few bodies covered with white sheets started doing rounds on social media platform. Mainstream media and social media are both playing roles in spreading disinformation," he added.
Pratik gave the example of deepfake videos to illustrate how easy it is today to manipulate content with the help of technology. "Using deepfake technology, it is easy to show a person saying something he has never said. For example, if you take a series of Mann ki Baat episodes by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and use deepfake, you will be able to create a video which will show the PM saying things he never uttered."
So how to we tackle this menace? "A law on fake news might give power to the government to term true news as fake. The only thing we can do is to be discerning consumers of information. Before believing in a WhatsApp forwards, we should ask ourselves if the information is authentic. Students should be taught how to authenticate information."
The writer can be contacted at kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com