With the advent of new age digital and social media, fake news has literally pervaded all spheres of life.
Given the political, social and economic ramifications, there is a need for some uniform guidelines and policy in this regard.
What is the concern?
Fabricated and manipulated content are increasingly gaining ground in India.
This is certainly leading to the possibility of potential violence, hatred and is impacting the social fabric in many ways.
The advent of fake news is not new or recent, but its potential of reach has magnified with new online platforms and applications.
The rise of digital and social media is amplifying the effect of the menace of fake news.
Notably, in recent days, isolated cases in different States for sharing false content through messaging and other social media platforms were booked.
On some occasions, the Internet has been shut down by the government on the pretext of inciting violence and to stop the spread of misinformation.
What drives this trend?
Lack of regulation - The online platforms, unlike the mainstream media, do not fall under comprehensive regulation.
A number of online news/information portals are being set up due to the lack of proper entry barriers.
The lack of binding rules and the ability to keep owners and editors private, offers a larger scope for wrongdoing in case of online platforms.
Also, despite researches and investigations on fake news, credible information on the creators and the intention behind it is still untraced.
Communal polarisation - The growing polarisation of society on ideological lines has made the job of spreading fake news easier.
Contrarily, the spread of hatred inducing content among leaders/groups of the opposing ideologies, further deepens the prevailing communal hatred.
Reach - In the past, communal violence in India was more a localised affair.
However, in recent days it is extensively being triggered through the Internet on a much larger scale.
The online and mobile platforms serve like nodal agencies distributing unverified information.
Gains - Spreading false news is becoming a way to make advertising money through click baits.
In India, numerous sites are being set up to commercialise fake news with click bait headlines.
Users are enticed with multiple link pages to click and continue reading making the content go viral.
What should be done?
The online platforms for content distribution should create systems to filter fake news.
Users creating hate content and sharing it can be booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
But the challenge is the sheer expanse of the Internet and the anonymity it grants to the users and creators of fake news.
So, regulations like compulsory registration of details of editors, publishers and physical address of the registered entity could be brought, for digital media outlets.
