There is a Pandemic of Fake News and Hate on Social Media

Context: With the rise in pandemic conspiracy theories and racial injustice, social media platforms have an increasing responsibility for moderating the content. 

Problem of Fake News/ Hate content/ Misinformation

• Time lag in posting and removing fake news: i.e by the time of action against fake news, much of the damage is usually done, because of its pace of spread.
• Lack of control over the quality of published content: as a result of an uncontrolled rise in the content creators.
• Hate speech, disinformation, and rumours: stimulate acts of violence and deaths.
• Sadhu's lynching incident of Maharashtra was fuelled by WhatsApp rumors.
• Microsoft study: over 64% of Indians encounter fake news online.
• Hard to distinguish between misinformation and credible facts: with a rise in the number of edited images, manipulated videos, and fake text messages.
• Misinformation has moved from fake facts: that can quickly be disproved to cultural content that plays on emotion and identity.
• Misinformation as a byproduct of technology revolution: it’s difficult to identify, report, and remove WhatsApp content because of a large consumer base (over 400 million users) and its encrypted messages.

Way Forward

• Careful consideration and collaboration: between government, academia, publishers, social media platforms, and civil rights groups. 
• Responsible acts of questioning, reporting, and thinking before forwarding a message.

Conclusion: To curb the instances of fake news, all stakeholders involved must act responsibly in terms of creating, consuming, and forwarding content to others.