Fake news: A menace?

Most of us think that Fake news in the new normal of this century but actually Fake news has always been around throughout our history or even in mythology or religious texts, and we also know the devastating consequences it had in the past. The biggest fake news in the history of India which was mostly spread by the British and believed by some extremely educated people was that the British made India united as a country. But in reality, it's a piece of forced fake news as in the past we had so many kingdoms in India like Maurya, Mughals where we had a united country as well. Since there was no technology at that time so the fake news used to spread very slowly but due to technological advancement these days fake news can be made sensational by making it attached to emotional or religious sentiments.

Fake news can be defined as fabricated information that mimics news media content in form but not in the organisational process or intent. Fake news overlap with other information disorders, such as misinformation (false or misleading information) and disinformation (false information that is purposely spread to deceive people). These days most of the fake news spread like a wildfire principally because of access to social media and easily forwarding of messages through chatting apps or social media posts. So what makes fake news so tempting? The most important reason for this is that it somehow matches with our preconceived notion about anything we come across and because of that we feel like believing it. Most of the fake news these days are related to political issues or religious sentiments and that makes it sensational and spreads in very little time.

The only way we can get over the fake news is by increasing vigilance and taking strict action in case someone is found doing it. Fortunately, we have some strict laws in India under cyber crimes now and also social media is equally instructed to check its spread. Nevertheless, Fake news has been and will always be there because the only advantage it holds is that any hatred related to political or religious issues can be spread easily by just typing few lines, forwarding it to groups or posting it on social media and can be sensationalized within no time. However, in spite of all these laws and restrictions can we get over the menace of fake news, the answer is No!