Election-Related Fake News on Social Media Requires Tackling On A War Footing, Believe Analysts

When India’s Election Commission anunced last month that its code of conduct would have to be followed by social media companies as well as political parties, some analysts scoffed, saying it lacked capacity and speed required to check spre of fake news ahe of a multi-phase general election that begins April 11.

Just weeks later, commission is indeed struggling to cope with fake news swirling on Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Twitter and or platforms, and even for its staff to spot it before it has spre across India, observers said Tuesday.

“Millions of voters are waking up to fake news, propaganda and hate speech inciting violence against Muslims and or mirities every day. But all commission can do is monitor it,” said Apar Gupta, a lawyer and executive director of Internet Freedom Foundation.

Given findings that Russia used Facebook to influence U.S. election in 2016, India’s Election Commission should have been better prepared, Gupta said.

Alarmed at surge in misinformation, Facebook said Monday that it was removing hundreds of ps and accounts because “we don’t want our services to be used to manipulate people.” WhatsApp on Tuesday unveiled a helpline called Checkpoint Tipline on which people can check aunticity of information y receive.

Examples of fake political news in India on social media abound.

An India p on Facebook claimed that Sonia Gandhi, ex-president of Congress Party and mor of Rahul Gandhi, party leer, is country’s fourth-richest woman. Ar fabricated im showed Pakistani flag being waved at Rahul Gandhi’s election rallies. Yet ar purported to show a photograph of Rahul Gandhi’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vra wearing a cross around her neck, intended to malign her as a n-Hindu.
 

Or social media messs and ims depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a poor light or as a sinister force. Facebook said it h removed 687 ps or accounts that “engd in coordinated inauntic behavior” linked to Congress Party.
 

scale of propaganda, false information, manipulated photos and fake videos may have something to do with scope of India’s general election. outcome of 879 million Indians voting over five weeks starting next week is being seen by some as a watershed moment that could fundamentally alter ethos of Indian society.
 

Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party hopes for a second term to consolidate its pro-growth, majoritarian policies. opposition Congress is desperate for a revival in its fortunes after a long period of a declining voter base.
 

With many politicians convinced election is going to be fought on WhatsApp, political parties have created WhatsApp group chats to spre ir mess. Reports in Indian media say that BJP plans to have three WhatsApp groups for each of India’s 927,533 polling booths — or 2.8 million WhatsApp groups in all. With WhatsApp recently limiting group members to a maximum of 256, forum’s group chats could potentially reach millions of voters.
 

For Commission, fake news presents a huge challenge. India has 1.14 billion cellphone connections. Around 240 million Indians use WhatsApp. Facebook has over 300 million users in India, more than any or country.
 

In India, rumors present a real threat. In 2018, more than 30 people were lynched by mobs acting on rumors spre on WhatsApp. In response, messaging platform limited number of people that messs could be forwarded to in India to five from earlier 20. But experts say that all this has meant is that number of small groups has proliferated.

For Gupta, Election Commission’s methods for tackling fake news are woefully inequate.
 

“ mechanism y have set up is that if y see any fake news, y will request Internet and Mobile Association of India to contact Facebook or YouTube and ask m to take it down. Association n requests platforms to do this. This is ludicrously slow,” said Gupta.
 

Last month, Facebook, Google, Twitter, WhatsApp and ShareChat agreed to here to a voluntary code of ethics in collaboration with Election Commission to curb menace of fake news, promising to take down any deliberately misleing information within three hours.
 

Palash Goorha, business director of social media analytics firm Konnect Insights, said this agreement alone was a vel and useful initiative for India’s general election — world’s biggest democratic exercise. He expects it will be watched closely by or governments.
 

“It’s first time for such an agreement. After Trump election, Facebook is being proactive and it’s good that everyone else signed up to this. Yes, commission is learning on job. Yes, it will learn hard way. But it’s a start,” Goorha said.
 

But according to Ankit Lal, he of social media with Aam Ami Party, which rules New Delhi, commission should have engd all parties concerned, including those who work in public policy in this field, much earlier to grasp sheer scale of problem and devise more concrete steps to tackle it.
 

“For an organized and concerted effort, commission should have been actively engd both with social media companies and or groups who kw much more about it than it does, long ago,” Lal said. “You can’t get rey for such a mammoth exercise in a few months. At present, it seems more concerned about being seen to be effective than actually being effective in preventing fake news influencing this election.”

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