The spread of fake news through Facebook seems to be increasing day by day (“Being factual in the post-truth era”, Jan.6). But it’s not just Facebook; I see government orders, or what people believe are government orders, being shared on WhatsApp and other social media platforms every other day. People share information without verification, which can be dangerous. All social media platforms have a moral responsibility to filter out fake news.
Bharath Bhushan Akkera,
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This editorial reminds me of the 2013 communal riots in Muzaffarnagar. A video clip showing men, who were purportedly in a particular community’s attire, lynching two boys was circulated on social media, inciting violence. It was later found that the incident did not take place in Muzaffarnagar.
In another instance, a video of a woman being beaten and burned alive by a mob was circulated to project the behaviour of an Indian mob. Again, it turned out that the video was not from here, but from Guatemala.
In both instances, there were undesirable consequences on the public psyche. In a country like India that already has communalism, religious polarisation and patriarchy, the post-truth world presents a momentous challenge which needs to be curbed in its initial stages before the country goes digital, a phenomenon which will bring about its own set of challenges.
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Nidhish Kumar,
Ghaziabad