Fighting fake news during elections- how to do it and why it matters

As India prepares for its 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the challenge of fake news spread follows. Read on to find out more about fake news, its effects, and ways to spot fake news.

Fake news- what is it?

Fake news is any false information presented as ‘real’ news. Maintained images, text, headlines, and other similar content count as fake news. There are many motives behind the spread of fake news ranging from financial gain to tarnishing the reputation of an individual or an institution. The spread of fake news during elections results in the manipulation of voters, the weakening of democratic values, and instances of political violence.

Challenges associated with fake news

There are many challenges associated with fake news making it complicated to stop its spread. A few of them are as follows:

Continuous sharing and recommendation: Before fake news is spotted and clarification comes into the picture, the manipulated content is shared across various social media platforms. The ones who forward content without rechecking often contribute to mass spread. Sometimes, these instances also come from reputable media houses due to their hidden agenda or lack of skilled personnel who don’t cross-verify information from multiple sources.

Engagement metrics and artificial intelligence: The engagement metrics of social media and browsers also top position the frequently shared content. Furthermore, AI uses bots and can be used to generate biased content leading to further damage.

Hackers and trolls: Hackers and trolls also take advantage of the manipulated content and deliberately repost such content. In some cases, they are secretly supported by organizations.

Stopping fake news spread

Spotting fake news is crucial to stop its spread which can have severe consequences such as political violence. With the below-mentioned tips and tricks, you can spot fake news across any platform:

Look for multiple credible sources

One of the best ways to spot fake news is by looking for more than one credible source. Look for the sources and links mentioned in the story or you can also search using the key terms and headlines. If the news is relevant, you will easily find multiple news stories coming from prominent media houses. There are news channels and media houses that offer audiences options to send content for verification. Trusting government website content is also beneficial.

Focus on the source of the information

Focusing on the source of information can be also important. You can begin by checking the domain name, it should be .com and not something like .offer or .info. Spelling errors in the company name or URL also indicate that the content is fake or manipulated. Poorly written content and constant appeals to visit some suspicious websites are common in fake news. If there are images and videos attached to the written content, you can use tools such as Google Reverse Image Search. It offers information such as related images and websites where the image is posted.

Try reading beyond the headline

Fake news content has confusing or triggering headlines and the content inside barely aligns with it. This can be a great way to spot fake news. The absence of facts and data along with credible sources also refers to the point that content is compromised. Additionally, it is important to look beyond personal biases to spot fake news and disinformation.

Use Google and other fact-checking tools

Recently, Google has offered its two prominent fact-checking tools in Hindi and 40 other languages. Google’s “About this image” offers information about the source of the image and “About this result” gives a basic website overview. To stop the spread of disinformation during the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Google is preventing its Gemini AI Chatbot from answering questions related to Indian elections. Additionally, one can also refer to the fact-checking unit of the Press Information Bureau or PIB, functioning under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Way forward

For a diverse democratic nation like India, it is important to ensure that fake news spread during elections is prevented. It is the collective responsibility of individuals, governments, media houses, and other independent organizations to increase media literacy and educate the masses about fake news detection and prevention. At Ezivote, we encourage our readers to cross-verify news and any other content they come across

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