BENGALURU: As Lok Sabha elections are nearing, there is a glut of fake and slanderous messages floating across social media. The World Economic Forum, in its global risk report, warned against disinformation and misinformation just about a week ago.
Psephologist Prem Palety, CEO of C-Fore -- which has done election surveys for different parties across the country for over three decades, said, “Social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and X are being commonly used for spreading fake news, especially for political use.
Some parties have gained expertise in booth-level management. They exploit India’s diverse religious and cultural sensitivities by spreading fake news that target specific communities. The Indian legal framework is not robust enough to counter fake news, especially for political use.’’
State RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge said, “The danger of fake news is a well-known fact for the past around ten years. Even the Supreme Court and other agencies have pointed to this danger.
The Karnataka government, it may be recalled, took up the issue and has empanelled fact-check and analytics teams to tackle this information disorder through the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society. An IPS officer and a legal team have been appointed to this unit, which will be operational in about a fortnight.”
Former Bengaluru police commissioner and former DG&IGP of Karnataka Ajai Kumar Singh said, “It tallies with our own experience that there is relentless false propaganda and disinformation blitzkrieg. That it is effective is more surprising, saddening and disturbing. Even so-called well-educated people are falling easy prey to it.
Sometimes, people are ready to brush aside their lived experiences and all their knowledge and information and go along with the false narrative. The brainwash is so complete that it is dangerous for a thinking, egalitarian modern society and nation. The aim appears to be to create a vast mass of zombies. This has to be resisted, fought against.’’
Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan said, “One prominent party -- everyone knows which it is -- is doing it on an industrial, organised scale. It is the biggest fake news factory in the world. It is not easy to control because control or censorship is worse than the menace of fake news. The growth of artificial intelligence may for a time present deep fakes which are disturbing.”