Living in a digital world, new media has a wide acceptance rather than any other source of media. Fake contents are a serious threat for society. There is a worldwide concern over false news and the possibility that it can influence political, economic and social well-being. Fake news is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that contains deliberate disinformation. These are usually caused by reporters paying sources for stories, an unethical practice called checkbook journalism. It tends to mislead in order to damage an agency, entity or person. Its relevance has increased in this digital era and thus it is necessary to study the impacts of fake contents over the society.
Fake news is a topic heard a lot in the media and in society. Obviously the fake news has a huge impact and consequences over society and in our community. Recent improvisations like limiting number of forwarding messages in WhatsApp, Supreme Court verdict on Cow vigilantism and lynching etc are few incidents that happened against this fake news shows how terrifying it is. According to a Reuters report , a total of 63 cow vigilante attacks had occurred in India between 2010and mid-2017, mostly since the Modi government came to power in 2014. In these attacks between 2010 and June 2017, “28 Indians – 24 of them Muslims- were killed and 124 injured”, states the Reuter’s report and in most of the cases fake news has played its game well.
In this present scenario fake news has emerged as a major threat to the democracy of our country. Many murders have already happened all around the country in the past few years due to the spread of fake news through social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp , telegram etc. Gujarat Riot, Muzaffarnagar Riot, Cow Vigilant Riots etc. are just a few examples from those which were the gift of these fake news.
People are easily influenced by the fabricated contents and all the propagandas and strategies spreading through the platforms. Those who are in power or the other various groups are taking advantage of this tremendous freedom offered by the new media platform. The fabricated political/religious contents or else the other contents are spread at a quick speed and thus infecting the minds of people with hatred and scars. On the other hand, certain media indirectly compels the people to believe the contents and demands to act against for any kind of cause. The research also gives an insight on the need for having a censoring system inside new media for ensuring the authenticity before sharing them. This will help in protecting the people’s right to know genuine information rather than cheating them by false contents.
Nisma Ahmad
I am from Kerala. I am currently pursuing my Masters in International Relations at Pondicherry University.