Category Archives: Fake News

Not a single day passes with some or other media house spreading fake news about the government of India, which is further circulated by the Congress party and its leaders and its ecosystem. The latest incident of the same is an allegation that ticket fares for passenger trains will be doubled.

After remaining suspended due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Indian Railways has decided to resume passenger train services in the country. While long-distance trains have already resumed as special trains, passenger trains were not started. While reporting this decision, some media houses had also claimed that the fare for such passenger trains will be doubled.

On 23rd Febrary, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi shared a clipping of a Hinde newspaper report making the same claim.

The same report was also shared by the official Twitter handle of the Congress party, claiming that passenger train fares will be doubled. The Congress claimed while the Modi government is promising bullet train at cheap rate, very soon passengers of general trains will have to pay the price of bullet trains.

After the reports of doubling railway fares were circulated by media houses and political parties, sources in Indian Railway has come forward to deny those reports. The source in railways has said that fares have been slightly increased for passenger and other short-distance trains, and it has not been doubled. The fares have been fixed at the existing fares for mail / express trains for the same distance.

The Indian Railway has clarified that the fares for unreserved tickets for short distanced have been increased to discourage crowding at trains, as the Coronavirus pandemic continues in the country. Little higher price is to be seen as Pro-Active measure of Railways to prevent crowding in trains and stop Covid-19 from spreading, said a source in Indian Railways.

With a view to regulate rush at stations and in trains, passenger trains are being charged slightly more fare than pre-COVID-19 times and a close watch is being kept on its patronisation. The situation is being constantly monitored to ensure restoration of services in keeping with the protocols necessary to be followed during COVID-19 times, the source added.

It may be noted that passenger operations have always been subsidized by railways. Normally, Railways bears a loss on every journey by a passenger.

A comparison with the bus fares shows that despite the moderate increase, the train remains the cheapest mode of transport in the country.

Sources in the Railways have also informed that fares have been increased in less than 3% of all the total trains running in the country. It added that the higher fare is a tool to discourage unnecessary crowding in trains and hence prevent the spread of coronavirus.

With the gradual withdrawal of the lockdown measures, Railways has operationalized almost 65 % of the Mail/Express trains and over 90 % of suburban services, as compared to the pre lockdown times. At present, 1250 Mail/Express trains, 5350 suburban service trains & more than 326 passenger trains are in operation average on a daily basis. This means, passenger trains constitute less the 3% of the total trains, for which the fare has been increased.

Indian Railways has noted that Coronavirus cases are still increasing in some states, and some states are re-introducing restrictions to prevent further spread of the pandemic. In such a situation, it is necessary to prevent crowding in passenger trains, which generally sees the most crowding as they need unreserved tickets to travel. In view of this, Railways has taken this step to discourage train travel unless it is absolutely necessary.

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Rahul Gandhi spreads fake news about train ticket fares being doubled: Here is the truth - OpIndia

Bollywoodshaadis.com

There is nothing more surreal than becoming parents. The newbie parents feel a surge of mixed emotions the moment they hold their little one in their arms for the first time or see them for the first time. It is like their nine-month-long wait has finally come to an end and now they can finally meet their baby, with whom, they were interacting for so long. TV actor, Naman Shaw and his wife, Neha Mishra Shaws wait of nine months has finally come to an end as the couple has welcomed their little wonder into this blissful world. (Also Read: Soha Ali Khan Spends Some Quality Time With Her Baby Girl, Inaaya Naumi Kemmu In The City) It was on Naman Shaw's birthday, i.e., December 18, 2020, when his pregnant wifey, Neha Mishra Shaw had shared two full-frame pictures with him and had delighted their million fans and friends with their 'Good News'. In the pictures, the couple had looked stunning in their respective attires. While Naman had looked handsome in his dark blue t-shirt and blue pants, his wifey, Neha had made us go 'aww' with her black dress and eccentric smile for the camera. Their sweet camaraderie in the pictures had once again made us believe that they're a match made-in-heaven. Now, finally, Naman and Neha have welcomed their little prince into this world. Yes, it is a baby boy for the couple and to announce the good news, the newbie parents took to their respective IG handles and shared a picture where while Neha was flaunting her baby bump, kissing Naman, the actor was seen pouting, holding his wifes baby bump. While Neha captioned the picture as Blessed with a Baby Boy Date - 24 /02/2021, on the other hand, Naman added a heart and Its a boy gif on the picture and wrote, Its a Boy. In a conversation with The Times Of India, the new father, Naman shared that Neha had a normal delivery after 12 hours long labour pain. He said, Nehaa was in labour for 12 hours and had a normal delivery. I was with her throughout. I can't even imagine what a mother goes through. But at the end of it, everything is worth it when you see your baby. Both of us wanted a healthy baby and are grateful to God for it. (Recommended Read: Nakuul Mehta's Wife, Jankee Parekh Opens Up On Her Life Post Their Baby Boy, Sufi's Birth) Naman also talked about embracing fatherhood and how the feeling of being a father is slowly sinking in. Sharing that he had developed fatherly instinct, right after Neha got pregnant, he said, It is an unreal feeling and slowly sinking in that our baby is finally here. To be honest, I developed the fatherly instinct immediately after Nehaa got pregnant. It feels like I have been taking care of the baby for the last nine months. It doesn't feel like a new addition... somehow it feels that I have known him all these months. New daddy, Naman also shared if the couple has finalized any name for their baby boy. He shared, We are going through all the names right now that we had shortlisted according to the nakshatra and horoscope. Both our families are super excited. My mother is flying down from Kolkata and Nehaa's mother is coming from Pune to help us out. On January 24, 2021, Naman Shaw had taken to his Instagram handle and had shared a cutesy picture with his wife, Neha Mishra Shaw from her surprise baby shower. The lovely suprise was organised by their closed friends, Kaniz Rabbi and Sheena Varma, and it had delighted the pregnant couple. In the picture, while Naman had looked dashing as always in his black shirt and blue denim, his wife, Neha had taken away all the limelight with her pregnancy glow and baby bump, as she had looked stunning in her blue striped dress. Along with the picture, Naman had written a short and simple caption that could be read as "Thank you @kaniz_rabbi @sheenavarma for this beautiful surprise #surprisebabyshower #memorable." (Must Read: Abhinav Shukla Reveals The Real Reason Why He And His Wifey, Rubina Dilaik Wanted A Divorce) Congratulations, Naman and Neha! Images Courtesy: Naman Shaw

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Himansh Kohli Opens Up About His Angry Reaction to the Fake News of Apologising to Ex Neha Kakkar - Yahoo India News

Fact Check

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

| Updated: Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 16:51 [IST]

New Delhi, Feb 24: A website has claimed that the Ministry of Labour, Government of India is offering Rs 12,0000 to those who have worked between 1990 and 2021.

The website says that those who have worked between 1990 and 2021 have the right to withdraw Rs 12,0000 from the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Check if your name your name is there and if you are entitled to withdraw these funds, it also says.

Further, the website also asks you to answer three simple questions and asks for your gender details in order to be entitled to withdraw the amount.

Fake: These guidelines on COVID-19 protocols are not issued by the ICMR

This claim is entirely fake. The government has made no such announcement for the Central Government employees. We checked on google if the government has made any such announcement. We found no such announcement and had it been made, it would have made big news and would have been covered by all major news outlets.

Beware of such fake news and do not share any such information on these fake websites. The official website of the Ministry of Labour and Employment is https://labour.gov.in. Follow updates only on this website and beware of such fake sites.

Govt is giving Rs 12 lakh to employees who have worked from 1991-2021

The claim is fake and the government has made no such announcement

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Fake: Govt is not giving Rs 1.2 lakh to employees who have worked between 1990-2021 - Oneindia

HOUSTON, TX Come Sunday, with the completion of the Super Bowl, the off-season will be upon us all. Between figuring out what to do about free agents to planning out draft boards, the off-season is not remotely close to relaxing for the 32 NFL franchises. For the 7 teams that saw turnover in the head coaching ranks, there is even more work to do. All of the above issues, in addition to figuring out how the new leadership teams will adapt to the organization. all of this in the still-ongoing pandemic.

The Houston Texans are no exception to the daunting off-season tasks. With a new Head Coach and General Manager, the team can move on to other matters. Yet, even among the teams that must integrate new leadership, the Texans are already running into significant hurdles, previously unforeseen and of a level that threaten the governing philosophy of the team.

What could those issues be? Is it the fact that the Texans project to be $18 million over the new salary cap? Is the fact that of the teams eight draft picks in 2021, none of them are higher than the third round, and over half are day three selections? What of the fact that the team faces some major questions about the future of stars like J.J. Watt and Will Fuller?

Well, I guess those are important football things to be worrying about pondered new GM Nick Caserio. However, that is not even close to the biggest concern we have going right now.

When pressed about what could be bigger than the aforementioned issues, to include the status of the teams relationship with disgruntled franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson, Caserio only shrugged. Trust me, we are facing bigger, existential concerns about the team. Even bigger than how things got so [kittened] up with Watson. Yep, we are currently in a fight about the best type of worship service we want to hold as a team.

Worship Services for the Team? our reporter could only exclaim.

Yes noted a weary Caserio. Ever since we brought over [Dave] Culley and [Lovie] Smith, the Holy Trinity has been hard at work debating the worship procedures for the team.

It all goes back to the Holy Trinity. You see, the driving force behind these debates is Easterby. He is much more of a contemporary service type guy. Thinks that this allows for greater young people participation, and will help solve our team morale and ticket sales. He figures that if we do the contemporary services during home games, we can make up revenue real quick. Could possibly increase game attendance post-COVID. He even went so far as to say that if we, as an organization, implemented the contemporary service, we can easily sway Watson and get him back into the fold.

However, Cal is more old school. He is more of a traditional service guy, with the classic hymns and the regulated sermons. Thinks that Watson will dig the regimented order. Wasnt quite as keen to implement [services] during the games but was open to having the worship service in the mornings before kickoff.

Rootes, well, he is more of the televangelist style. Whatever drives the team towards the optimal prosperity gospel action for the team to help revenues, he is all for.

At this point, Caserio sighs. I keep trying to tell these guys So, what do you want to do about Watson? I cant even so much as go to the bathroom without getting phone calls and text messages about proposed trade deals for Watson. I think I even got an offer from a team in Shanghai. The Jets, the Dolphins, the Raiders, the Montreal Alouettes, the Yankees, the Texas Rangers, the Democratic Party in Texas...they all want to talk deals for Watson. Of course they all suck. Best offer I saw was for a 2025 7th rounder, a bag of magic beans and a slightly used NSRV Bible. Guess they figure that I am like the last boob, er, BOB that ran this office

All I ask is for someone to let me actually make a decision. Instead, all I get from Easterby or Cal is So, Nick, what do you think about the hymn lineup for the season. Should we go with Im Alive and Here I am to Worship on repeat for the first halftime, or should we try The Rock of All Ages? The Rock of All Ages would be a great defensive anthem, no? What do you think?

This job is driving me to meth real quick.

We tried to reach out to members of the Holy Trinity for their inputs. We did receive an email message from Easterby:

Will you mean sinners and social media trolls take the hint? Why do you disturb and disrupt my holy mission to save souls at NFL games? I have been blessed by the Lord on high for this most holy of missions. As I keep telling Cal [when he is sober] the best way to save the corrupt souls of the NFL world and offer the salvation of the Lord is to bring in as many thirsty souls as possible, so that they may partake of the quenching water that is the world of God. The best way to do that is by plugging the contemporary service game experience for the Home Games for 2021. This will bring the young people in droves. Just look at my previous work:

Our reporter replied Wont attendance be better served by fixing the personnel disparities and maybe trying to resolve the dispute with Watson?

The Most Exalted Easterby replied When Watson hears about what we plan to do with the game experience, and how we plan to bring the Lord more into the execution of the team, he will come around. He has willed it that Watson will win the Super Bowl, and I, er, the team, will profit from this action.

We called back to Caserio to ask a few follow-up questions. Oh, I dont know where Culley or Smith stand on this right now. I dont know where they come down on the contemporary vs. traditional debate. Guess I will know soon enough. Well, if there

Caserio received a ping on his cellphone that did not seem to come from another team, but from the Texans front office.

Theyve come to a major decision!!! he states Lets seethe team has decreed thatthey will only...be using grape juice for the communion services for the team. Apparently, Cal was not happy about that, but Easterby overruled him.

Looks like we have solved one the biggest debates of the off-season. Should bode well. Stated Caserio in as flat a voice as possible, although he could barely hide the massive eye roll.

Caserio bid us farewell. However, as we left the Zoom chat, we notice that he was taking out a black zipper bag with what looked like a needle or two and some clear liquid.

Ahhhhhhhso much better! exclaimed a voice a minute later (apparently, he had forgotten to completely log off the computer.)

On that note, we bid all a great day, and wish to leave all readers with these last, uplifting thoughts to make the rest of your day:

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Totally Not Fake News: The Great Debate Within the Houston Texans Front Office - Battle Red Blog

The combination of political divisiveness and the COVID-19 pandemic led to fake news running rampant on social media in 2020. That's not really news; but you might be surprised at how fake news was shared. According to The German Marshall Fund of the United States, verified Twitter users shared a significant percentage of deceptive website news by the end of the year.

The GMF discovered that false content producers and manipulators received nearly one third (47 million) of the 155 million verified-account shares in Q4 2020. Overall, false-content-producer shares increased by over 160%, and manipulators increased by nearly 120%, while all US websites increased by a mere 14% in 2020. This has led false-content producers and manipulators to, respectively, triple and double their verified account shares since 2018.

At the top of the chart is the Gateway Pundit, which received more shares from verified Twitter users at the end of the year than The Washington Post. Breitbart received an equal amount of interactions, and Fox News, Just the News, and the Epoch Times ranked higher than NBC News.

Facebook has also contributed to the spread of disinformation, with manipulators growing their interactions 165% over the last four years against just a 75% increase for all US-based sites. In total, deceptive websites received 6.4 billion interactions in 2020, twice the number seen four years ago. In the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, deceptive sites received 1.2 billion interactions, nearly a fourth of the total 5.1 billion interactions for US-based sites.

Many false-content producers and manipulators did see a drastic fall in interactions as a result of Facebook changing its algorithm. But RedStateObserver.com still managed to receive more interactions than the Wall Street Journal in the fourth quarter of 2020. Newsmax also managed to beat out the Los Angeles Times in that same time period.

Given the results that were collected this past year, the GMF is comfortable confirming that the actions made by Facebook and Twitter to stop the spread of fake news proved to be effective. Hopefully, these platforms will continue their efforts to manage the content people publish and share. In the meantime, here are several tools to help identify what's real and what's fake news.

Further Reading

Social Media Reviews

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Verified Twitter Users Shared an All-Time-High Amount of Fake News in 2020 - PCMag

Bad actors are hijacking journalist names, photos and bylines to help give credibility to fake storylines or hoaxes on the internet.

Why it matters: Even when platforms try to police this type of content, memes and fake stories often still circulate indefinitely, making it hard for victims to fully recover from the hoax.

Driving the news: Joe Gould, a Congress and Industry reporter for Defense News, tells Axios about how his identity was hacked to fuel a right-wing meme conspiracy that the incoming Defense Secretary planned to outsource U.S. defense systems to China.

Gould later found that the meme was rapidly spreading on bigger platforms like Facebook. Frantically, he started to search for the meme using key words noted in the fake article and to contact people who posted it to try to get them to take it down.

The big picture: These types of identity hacks have become more common in recent years. As tech companies get better at detecting fake accounts, bad actors have to hijack real identities to give disinformation legitimacy and to avoid detection.

Between the lines: Gould tells Axios that it's been nearly impossible to get the meme wiped off the internet, especially as it continues to pick up steam on less visible channels like Telegram, where the virality seemed to take off.

Be smart: The democratization of the web means that any bad actor has the power to completely shift a narrative, or wreck a person's reputation, with a single meme.

The trend also represents a misguided fear around things like deep fakes. Situations like these support data that shows that the vast majority of misinformation and disinformation don't involve manipulated media, but rather, manipulated context.

The bottom line: Anyone with perceived institutional expertise is a target, especially journalists and commentators, or even academics and researchers.

Go deeper: Election influence operations target journalists

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Journalist identities hijacked to spread fake news - Axios

Donald Trump may have exited the White House but he has left a permanent mark on the English language, with the Macquarie Dictionary labelling fake news, a term Trump used frequently, the word of the decade.

The Australian dictionarys senior editor, Victoria Morgan, says its a fitting title given the way fake news has evolved over the past few years.

It wasnt uncommon for former US president Donald Trump to label critical stories fake news.Credit:Bloomberg

Fake news is different from making a mistake, Morgan says. Its deliberate misinformation. The first definition stands, but what we have is a second definition where its a term used to refer to information thats viewed as being opposed to or detrimental to someones own position. So [fake news] is now being used to attack real news and rob it of its credibility.

And before you ask, no, it isnt wrong to call fake news a word even though its made up of two separate entries in the dictionary.

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Fake news? No, it really is Macquarie Dictionarys word of the decade - Sydney Morning Herald

Social media sites should be fact checking and removing false information because fake news is dangerous.

Since Trumpwas bannedfrom nearly every social-media site, theres more conversation about whether such platforms should have consequences for people including people in the Hawkeye State who spread false, misleading, or harmful information.Social media needsto have fact checkers, and peopleshould besuspended when necessary.

Social media is an easy place to spread any information, including false, misleading, and harmful information. Sites have a responsibility tomonitorand stop the spread of fake news.

Many sites, such as Twitter, already have fact checkers that check viral tweets. If they are false, there is a tag on them that can lead people to true information.Some people such as Iowa House of Representatives member Sandy Salmon view sites marking false information as unnecessary censorship.

Many times, I have assumed a factoid circling a social media platformto betrue, buta notation fromTwitter or Facebook let me know it was not. Because of this, I did not spread the information to anyone else, which may have harmed others.

Fake news no, not CNN is more serious than many may think because it has caused multiple cases of violence.

Conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent ran rampant on social media andare citedas one of theprimary causesof the insurrection at the U.S.capitol.

It is important that we alltry andstop the spread of such informationin order tostop future acts of violence, but the main responsibility falls on those in charge of social media sites.

Social media sites alsohave the optionof suspending or permanently banning people or organizations that often spread false information.

This is what Americans saw with Donald Trump. After Twitter banned Trump and other accounts prone to misinformation, the fake news spread on social media went down by73 percent. Though this decision made a lot of people upset, it was ultimately for the better.

Social media sites should all add to their terms and conditions that false and harmful information cannot be spread on their platform. This way if someone is knowingly and repeatedly doing this, theycan beremoved from the platform.

Of course, everyone has a personal responsibility totry andweed out fake news. However, the truth is that most people cannot.

A Stanford study found thattwo-thirds of college studentswere unable to discern real information from fake news.

Apps likeTikTokarent as rigorous with fact-checking information. This is especiallyconcerningfor college students, because theaverageTikTokuser is between the ages of 16-24.

This means that if weare fedfake news, there is nothing present to tell us it is wrong. Sincethe majority ofcollege students cannot decipher between real and fake news, this has harmful potential.

TikTokcan add fact checkers thatmonitorvideos gaining attention. This would not end fake news all together, but it would slow the spread.

In order to stop fake and harmful news from spreading rapidly, social media sites need tomonitorthe information being shared more closely. If not, social media will only become a more dangerous place.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.

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Opinion | Social media sites need to monitor fake news - UI The Daily Iowan

A community group has told how it is desperately trying to battle misinformation and fake news which is deterring Dudley people from taking the Covid vaccine.

Lye-based Turning Points Solutions say they have some people telling them Id rather go to my grave than take the vaccine.

Its a far-too-common attitude that the group also known as The Ladies Sunshine Club are trying to fight with a campaign of videos and building trust.

Turning Points, founded by Maimoona Qari, focuses on supporting women and families across Dudley borough.

Maz, as she is known, says they are battling low uptake of the vaccine in certain communities.

There is a lot of fear mongering, conspiracy theories and fake news.

Social media is being manipulated and is spreading a lot of fake stories. There is one which claims to show a young girl surrounded by a crying family after she collapses from the vaccine. But it turns out the girl was actually drunk and it has nothing to do with the vaccine.

Maz thinks the fake news is finding fertile ground among already disengaged communities, where there are language barriers and where trust in government particularly over the handling of the pandemic is low.

But it is fighting back with videos of its own, filmed in various languages, showing local community leaders and their families taking the vaccine, and trusted local doctors.

I sense things are turning around. As people have seen us and have been listening to our advice to take the vaccine they are tending to say, actually this must be safe.

Maz, a first Class honours Law graduate, originally began work at the Dudley Asian Womens Centre in 2000 and later set up the Turning Points social enterprise after starting her own family with the aim of supporting and campaigning for extra resources for local women and families.

Twenty years on she is as passionate about it as the day she started.

Her most common expression is empowering, and now there are six facilitators at Turning Points helping to provide online support to around 250 families through the pandemic with wellbeing activities for mothers and their children; emergency food help; free home schooling; English classes; exercise and fitness sessions; bereavement support and much else. They have been providing women from low incomes with free tablets to be able to get take part in online activities and alleviate loneliness.

She hopes that Covid can act as a turning point. Communities were already struggling but Covid has shown up those disparities. Now we need to make sure people are no longer suffering in silence, that their voice is heard.

She is working on a book of inspirational stories of womens experiences through the pandemic - including front line workers - and at the same time putting together online blogs and activities for International Womens Week in March.

For more information, go to: http://www.turningpoints.org.uk , or https://www.facebook.com/groups/2567043296887403/?ref=share

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Fake news and conspiracy theories risk to vaccine roll-out in Dudley - Stourbridge News

The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth. 1984, George Orwell.

And then came Trump or did he? Journalists all over the world hold their heads in despair, some even in shame. We are all tarred now with the fake news brush, fingers point at traditional/mass media and the verdict is that we are all guilty. Weve apparently eroded the confidence of our audiences by taking sides and peddling lies, and we have damaged democracy in the process.

The fact is, journalists are easy scapegoats in societies enamoured of their new social media friends, who arent quite ready to accept their part in propagating what we have come to call fake news. Who hasnt shared, liked and praised stories, memes or pictures without fact-checking them, just because they came from someone familiar, even if vaguely so?

But none of that absolves the professionals of responsibility. Lets be honest: most newsrooms at the turn of the century decided to embrace and promote social media, first through blogging and citizen journalism, and then by actively incorporating it as one of their streams all the while deluding themselves that they would be able to influence and moderate the information on these platforms.

Vile content was, and still is, posted as audience opinions, just below main news. Lies, aspersions and a host of inaccuracies still creep in, despite filters, algorithms and pretensions of control.

In an era when the line between deliberate disinformation and news challenging dominant narratives has been blurred to suit the interests of the powerful, how can journalists and readers fight back? How do we repair the damage that has already been done?

YOU ARE FAKE NEWS

In January 2017, the 45th president of the United States of America was being inaugurated in front of a crowd that lets say wasnt as large as expected. The live TV images spoke for themselves. The new presidents press secretary swiftly declared this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration () on the globe. Challenged about her blatant lie, her response was truly Orwellian. She said her views were alternative facts.

Interestingly, Trump rose to power, aided by a group of youngsters from the obscure Macedonian town of Veles, whose motive was only profit. Their only interest in American politics was its potential to enrich them, by pulling in big audiences to their Facebook posts and the accompanying advertising windfall.

According to the BBC, Buzzfeeds media editor Craig Silverman found that, at the time of Trumps presidential campaign, there were close to 150 newly created websites spreading false news about his rival Hillary Clinton and aiding Donald Trump, many of which were registered in Veles. The hugely popular slogan at Trump election rallies in 2016 Lock her [Hillary] up was based on fake news about her supposedly criminal conduct on one such site.

With the rapid spread of this fake news on all social media platforms, and on some mainstream media outlets as well, Trump happily appropriated the term and used it effectively throughout his presidency. But for him and his team, fake news was everything and everyone who did not paint a rosy view of his presidency.

Entering truly dystopian territory, Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani told an astonished Chuck Todd of NBC, Truth isnt truth! And to complete the Orwellian scenario, Trump gave a speech in July 2018, where he said: What youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. Like Orwell warns in 1984, once you are told to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears, you can expect total alienation.

The alienated assaulted the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, provoked by Trumps alternative facts, in a reminder of our very own 2014 D Chowk dharna. Trump claimed to have won the November 2020 presidential election. Official data shows Joe Biden got seven million votes more than Trump, giving him 51 percent of the vote, and 306 seats of the US Electoral College.

But these alternative facts resulted in five dead, dozens arrested; lawmakers and their aides children terrorised in the crche inside the Capitol and the US legislature besieged by an inflamed mob. A recent Reuter/Ipsos poll showed 68 percent of Republican voters still believe the election was rigged, which means a whopping 50 million Americans have no faith in their democracy anymore.

AN OLD TACTIC

Trump did not invent fake news. It has been a constant throughout history.

Emperor Octavian ran a successful smear propaganda against Marc Antony who was, until then, the most admired general of the Roman army. Octavian printed some of his misrepresentations of Antony on coins for maximum exposure, putting into question the generals loyalty to Rome. Another Roman emperor, Nero, cunningly accused Christians of being responsible for the great fire of Rome in 64AD, leading to their being scapegoated for centuries after.

But never has the truth been more twisted and embellished than in times of conflict. There are many examples of wartime propaganda lies. In 1898, a massive explosion sank the battleship USS Maine in Cubas Havana harbour, killing 260 American crew members. The US accused Spain of being behind the massacre and declared a war that was won easily in less than three months, gaining control of many territories.

In those months, the Hearst- and Pulitzer-owned press outlets in the US presented the Spaniards as monsters who fed their prisoners to the sharks and cut the ears of the Cubans. In 1976, American naval investigators concluded that the Maine explosion was actually caused by a fire that ignited its ammunition stocks, not by a Spanish act of sabotage.

Fake news has been a constant throughout history. Emperor Octavian ran a successful smear propaganda against Marc Antony who was, until then, the most admired general of the Roman army. Octavian printed some of his misrepresentations of Antony on coins for maximum exposure, putting into question the generals loyalty to Rome.

Who has read even a little about World War II and not heard of Goebbels name, his work and words: If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

Some of us still remember the Radio Pakistan bulletin on December 16, 1971. The newsreader said: After an agreement between local commanders, ceasefire was declared in East Pakistan. But, turning the dial on to the BBC frequency, we learnt that the Pakistan Army had, in fact, surrendered to Indian troops. Only the day before, it seems, banner headlines in Pakistani papers had screamed the Eastern Military Commander Lt Gen Amir Abdullah Khan Niazis statement that Indian tanks would have to go over his dead body to enter Dhaka.

THE RECENT PAST

Fast forward to February 14, 2003, when UN Chief Weapons Inspector to Iraq, Hans Blix, reported back to the Security Council that his group had not found any such weapons [of mass destruction], only a small number of empty chemical munitions.

Disregarding Blixs report and citing the existence of dangerous stockpiles of those weapons as a pretext for his actions, the US president, George W Bush, supported by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, nevertheless declared war on Iraq on March 20, 2003. The events of September 11, 2001 had shaken the US and its allies. They declared a war on terror, a term which served as a blanket justification for just about any course of action they would take.

The US media didnt scrutinise the conduct of Bush for starting a war that the UN has since declared illegal several times over. When the BBC attempted to question Prime Minister Tony Blairs grounds to justify the war, it was boxed into a corner by the Labour government on a technicality, rather than the substance of its report that the war dossier had been sexed up. Tragically, the BBC reporter Andrew Gilligans source, an official chemical weapons expert and scientist Dr David Kelly, allegedly committed suicide after coming under government pressure. BBC Chairman Gavyn Davis and Director General Greg Dyke both lost their jobs as a consequence and the BBC has since struggled to assert, unapologetically, its editorial independence.

On March 11, 2004, a series of coordinated bombings in thecommuter train system of Spains capital Madrid left 193 people dead and around 2,000 injured. The Spanish mainstream media, initially and without exception, regurgitated the prime ministers claim that the terror bombings were carried out by the Basque separatist group ETA, which had executed a bloody campaign on Spanish security forces mainly (but not exclusively) since the 1970s, and most papers led with the headline: ETA massacre in Madrid.

Meanwhile, all along, police investigations had pointed in the direction of Al Qaeda who later claimed responsibility even citing irrefutable evidence of the presence of members of one of its cells in the vicinity of the train stations that morning. In fact, the bombings were a reaction to Spains decision (overwhelmingly opposed by Spaniards) to deploy troops to Iraq, a fact the government did not want to acknowledge three days before a general election.

Tell the truth demonstrations erupted across the country. Three days later, the Popular Party lost the elections, handing a surprise victory to the socialists of Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero.

Did the media enhance or diminish democracy that day? We can only say that the media certainly had an impact on the attitude and perception of a large number of Spaniards, who wanted accountability for what they perceived as deception.

MAKING BREXIT HAPPEN

In the lead-up to the 2016 referendum in the UK, in which the country decided by a wafer-thin majority to leave the EU, the Leave campaign deployed lies to win its argument.

For example, the Campaign run by Dominic Cummings (later Prime Minister Boris Johnsons key adviser) came up with the slogan plastered on campaign buses 350m a week for NHS, implying that, in a post-Brexit Britain free of EU control, there would be an additional 350 million pounds a week to support the resource-starved National Health Service.

Let alone the additional allocation to NHS, the amount was nowhere near what the EU exit would have delivered in savings. It was also not offset against the costs of Brexit, which would have yielded a negative figure. But the media reported the claim as fact and brought the other side, Remain, to refute it, thus suggesting the two sides were on par.

After the referendum, Cummings was asked in a BBC Newsnight interview if he knew his slogan was not true. I was given the task of winning the Referendum. Didnt I win? was his smug response. The media had failed the people again by demanding the Remain side find ways to refute blatant lies that news anchors should have never given a pass as valid facts in the first place.

So, fake news, or what the soviets called dezinformatsiya, has always been present, impacting our views and societies in different ways, and has always been a dangerous weapon in the hands of ruthless autocrats and manipulative populists.

When fake news morphs into the much-hyped information wars, or what our national security experts call Fifth Generation Warfare (5GW), and they themselves jump into it, at least in our domestic context, it serves only to erode democracy, hinder the mainstream media and the diversity it can reflect, and silence dissent. The external element of it and its efficacy as a tool of national security is not known.

FAKE NEWS AND THE INTERNET

The internet has given fake news an unprecedented scope and outreach that transcends borders and socio-economic groups. It potentially brings a global audience to the smartphones in our palms in seconds and pretty much for free. Social media has enabled fake news in ways nobody predicted.

For a long time, social media moguls were more interested in enriching themselves rather than in tackling the devil in their platforms. But things may be changing.

While traditional media (CNN, NBC, BBC etc) edit out information for being antidemocratic, and innumerable fact-checking websites have sprouted all over the world to guard the truth (maldita.es, Fact Check, Alt News etc), Twitter, Facebook and other platforms are now also scrambling to assert damage control, to clear their platforms of fake news.

In 2019, Twitter and Facebook closed thousands of accounts alleging they were run by our militarys PR wing. Some of these handles may have been targeting the enemy across the borders, but many were also carrying out sustained malicious campaigns against opposition parties and dissenting citizens. In 2016, Nawaz Sharif was vilified for calling for measures that Pakistan eventually rolled out at FATF (Financial Action Task Force) gunpoint four years later. Both the then prime minister and this paper because it broke the story were castigated by such accounts on social media, in a sustained, vile campaign.

Whereas Pakistans entry into 5GW via social media sites on the internet is a relatively recent phenomenon, investigations by the EU DisinfoLab showed the Indians have been neck deep in it for at least 15 years. The EU DisinfoLab is an independent non-profit organisation focused on tackling sophisticated disinformation campaigns targeting the EU, its member states, core institutions and core values. The non-profit published its findings in two reports, in 2019 and in December 2020.

EU DISINFOLAB

In their stories, appearing simultaneously in December last year, Ramsha Jahangir (Dawn) and Abid Hussain and Shruti Menon (BBC online), quoted the EU DisinfoLab research report which traced over 750 fake media to a Delhi-based holding company, the Srivastava Group (SG).

The Brussels-based group said it was unable to uncover direct evidence of a link between the Indian government and this elaborate operation. Nevertheless, the network, spread over 116 countries, carried out a global disinformation campaign to serve Indian interests by creating fake news against Pakistan (and in some cases China) and then by distributing it.

Democracy may already have been irreparably damaged by the collusion of the Goswamis of the media world with the Trumps, the Bolsonaros and the Modis that come to power or who, like the Cummings and the Steve Bannons of the world, enable others of their ilk to achieve power by spewing blatant lies that large swathes of people happily believe.

It is the largest network we have exposed, Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director ofEU DisinfoLab told the BBC. The network was designed primarily to discredit Pakistan internationally and influence decision-making at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and European Parliament, BBC said, quoting the EU DisinfoLab.

Apart from more than 750 fake media and over 550 website domain names, SG also directly controlled in excess of 10 NGOs accredited to the UN Human Rights Council. The fake media were mostly found in Brussels and Geneva. The group had resurrected defunct media, NGOs, and even a dead individual in one case, as part of its propaganda drive, as well as created innumerable fake journalists.

According to the BBC, the EU DisinfoLab partially exposed the network in 2019 but now says the operation is much larger and more resilient than it first suspected. It relies heavily on amplifying content produced on fake media outlets with the help of the Asian News International (ANI) Indias largest wire service (Text and TV) and a key focus of the investigation. Those who have experience of covering India and its various undercurrents say that, if ANI were hand-in-glove with SG in the campaign, then a link to the Indian security establishment would also be found if properly probed in India.

Titled Indian Chronicles, the EU DisinfoLab report says the operation targeted members of the European Parliament and the United Nations raising questions about how much EU and UN staff knew about SGs activities, and whether they could have done more to counter those activities, especially after the 2019 report.

The report cited dozens of specific examples where ANI picked up content from a fake news outlet and circulated it widely.

For its part, on its corporate website, the Delhi-based SG claims ownership of just three media entities in India but makes no mention of any of the sites, NGOs and people that the EU watchdog cites in its report. It also says its mission is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends; to create and publish content that educates, informs and inspires; and to build healthier lives.

Obviously, nowhere does it say it runs a sophisticated global disinformation machine and campaigns to further Indias foreign and security policy goals. Some of Delhis senior journalists we asked said they had never heard of SG!

INDIAS PAKISTAN OBSESSION

Disinformation against Pakistan seems like a sizable industry in India. The Pakistan obsession is such that sections of the Indian media do not even shy away from inventing news of trouble and turmoil in Pakistan.

Last December, when senior officers of the Sindh Police protested against the forced removal of their chief from his Karachi home by Rangers and intelligence officials so he could be persuaded to order the arrest of PMLN MNA and Maryam Nawaz Sharifs husband Capt Mohammad Safdar some in the Indian media went to town with fake news.

Even fake Sindh Police handles were created on Twitter to echo the TV channels fake news of a civil war like situation in Karachi, with reports of shootouts and mounting casualties in street-fighting between the police on the one side, and the paramilitary Rangers and the army on the other.

Like certain Pakistani anchors close ties even allegiance to the security establishment and the governing party, a nexus also exists between several high profile Indian journalists and the BJP government and security services.

One was exposed recently when Mumbai Police downloaded chats from the phone of Arnab Goswami, who runs the pro-BJP Republic TV and hosts one of the channels prime time news and current affairs programmes. He is known for a shrill and obnoxious anti-Pakistan stance on his channel whenever Indias western neighbour is discussed and, generally, has a distinct pro-BJP slant in his domestic coverage.

His chats with the man who heads the influential ratings agency that decides the volume and, crucially, the price tag, of advertisements on various Indian TV channels by certifying their viewership numbers, were leaked by the Mumbai Police. This happened after the anchor was arrested on criminal charges and his phone was also confiscated and analysed.

The chats demonstrate that he knew of Goswami Indian plan to carry out an air strike against a supposed militant target in Pakistans Balakot in 2020, three days ahead of the actual air raid. By sharing this classified information, he was attempting to show the ratings agency head how well-connected he was and how well his channel would do/does in covering issues, by getting a head-start via their government sources. His ultimate goal was to manipulate the ratings in his favour.

TRUTH BE TOLD

Democracy may already have been irreparably damaged by the collusion of the Goswamis of the media world with the Trumps, the Bolsonaros and the Modis that come to power or who, like the Cummings and the Steve Bannons of the world, enable others of their ilk to achieve power by spewing blatant lies that large swathes of people happily believe. Facebook and Twitter may have acted against Trump rather late in the day and, some critics say, inappropriately. But how do we, as professionals, make sure we curtail misinformation without inhibiting the diversity of views?

The answer is by going back to the basics: find the truth, verify facts, cleanse content of bias; challenge the lie that defies the data (vaccines dont prevent disease and deaths), challenge the blatant implausibility (the earth is flat!) and then report. Invite views but dont let inaccuracies fly freely, no matter where they are coming from.

It may sound simple and almost naive because, if truth be told, we journalists dont exist in a vacuum. We, too, belong to societies where profit has overtaken morality. We, too, are workers with families to feed. The owners of media empires that employ us have close ties to the same powers that, on occasion, benefit from fake news and misinformation.

Looking back at the past few years, however, it seems obvious that far too many journalists were complicit in creating parallel universes, with parallel realities. Republic TV has been mentioned as one of the few most obvious examples in India. Fox News jumps to our mind in the US; but every country has its Fox news. And some more than one. Pakistan is no different.

And if the media has damaged democracy, so has inexplicably nearly half the global populace. Despite having more access than ever to reliable information, more opportunities than ever to vote in better governments, it continues to exercise choices reflecting swallowed-digested fake news and false narratives, by electing despicable charlatans.

The challenge facing democratic, pluralistic societies is how to bring them back from the dark side into a new era of enlightenment, where truth truly matters to all.

Carmen Gonzalez is a former BBC and Instagram Editor. Abbas Nasir is a former BBC executive and past Editor of Dawn

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 31st, 2021

Read more from the original source:

LIVING IN THE AGE OF FAKE NEWS - DAWN.com