Everyone from governments to big tech firms are busy tackling the scourge of fake news and it’s not going to be an easy one. As they say ‘a lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
The fight against fake news has become a pressing matter all over the world as lies masquerading as news, which spread like wild fire over social media, are causing riots, taking lives, influencing elections and damaging reputations.
Fake news is created either for economic incentive or to propagate some agenda. Even though governments, including Qatar, have introduced various measures like fines and jail for perpetrators of false news, the flow of lies is never ending.
As Qatar is preparing to host the World Cup football in 2022, the blockading countries will be working overtime to peddle fake news to defame Qatar’s image. Many reputed international publications have already warned about these countries paying public relation companies to manufacture news and events against Qatar.
As citizens and residents of Qatar, we need to be very careful about the news we consume and share. Always make sure that you trust the source of the news before you forward to someone else. If you feel suspicious then check with official agencies or report to concerned authorities. Nowadays it’s very easy to get in touch with authorities through their social media handles.
Fake news can be local in content like petrol price hike or introduction of new tax. Many times ministries have to come out with clarifications denying these rumours. So as a responsible resident it becomes everyone’s duty that they are responsible for the news they share and just because someone send you something on WhatsApp doesn’t mean it’s true.
In the current regional situation, even big media houses from blockading countries are busy manufacturing news than reporting facts. There is a well-oiled setup working behind them and one needs to be extremely cautious about what we read.
This rings very true for social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook as some neighbouring countries are alleged to have setup organisations with hundreds of people to spread their propaganda using ‘electronic flies’ as they are called in Arabic social media space.
Tech giants like Facebook and Twitter has bought in many measure to eliminate false news from their platform. They have made it tougher for people to share and promote news by augmenting their machine learning capabilities and also using manual interventions. It is heartening to see such coporates are taking steps to pull out the weeds, but they need to do much much more.
WhatsApp, the most popular messaging application, which is owned by Facebook, has also introduced many new features to help people identify fake news.
There are steps in the right direction, but the most important part has to be played by the user. Be very aware of what you receive, read and share.
