BENGALURU: Over the past few months, those pesky WhatsApp forwards that you keep seeing in family and friends groups seem to have taken on a more sinister tone. With the recent lynching of a man from Hyderabad at Murki in Bidar, the count of people dead because of panic spread through WhatsApp forwards has gone up to about 30. While the company has taken some measures, like highlighting forwards, after receiving a rap on the knuckles from the government, experts say that forwarded messages, of the mildly irritating ‘good morning’ kind or the more dangerous ‘child kidnapper alert’ type, are here to stay.
It is this spate of rumours, ranging from false promotions to fake security notices, that gave two IT professionals from the city the idea of contributing to the slaying of rumours and fake news two years ago. Check4Spam, one of the country’s few websites battling rumours, started out initially with just the two founders, Shammas Oliyath and Bal Krishn Birla, researching rumours during their lunch break or any other spare time of the day and finding proof to debunk them. Now, the team includes a few dedicated volunteers who give their time to the effort.
According to Shammas Oliyath, the instances of rumours surrounding child kidnapping has increased in the past few months. “The scary part is that the pictures used are very scary and are totally unrelated to the rumour being spread. We have been seeing a lot of submissions asking for verification of these messages,” he said. The site also helps debunk other rumours and messages related to promotions or those which promise free items.
According to Tinu Cherian Abraham, a social media evangelist, what is needed immediately is a method by which someone can check messages for authenticity. “About 80% of people would know if a message is written by the sender or it is just a forward. But an average person doesn’t. WhatsApp has to help the majority. It can use artificial intelligence to identify messages that are similar and shared in bulk by hundreds to thousands of people. These messages can have a special button for instant fact-check. It can tie up with fact-checking and myth busting websites for this,” he suggested.
WhatsApp advisory on rumours
Understand when a message is forwarded. A new feature now shows which messages are forwards and which ones are typed out by the sender.
Question Information that upsets you. Ask if it was shared with the intent of shocking or scaring you. Do not share if not comfortable with the answers.
Check information that seems unbelievable.
Look out for messages that look different. Many fake news and rumours tend to have spelling mistakes or other errors.
Check photos and links carefully. Photos can be edited or simply added to the wrong information to present a fake picture. Links can be similar to those of popular sites.