Fake news row: Social media won't be allowed to abuse polls, says Prasad

Fake News - At a time when the government is engaged in a row with WhatsApp over tracing of fake messages, Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said spread of radical thought through digital means should be addressed by better regulations as well as international cooperation.

Prasad, speaking at the plenary of the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial meeting in Salata, Argentina, on August 23-24, also said that India has taken serious note of reported data misuse of social media platforms and such tools would never be allowed to abuse the election process for extraneous means.

“Use of the cyber medium to spread radical thought is a challenge that needs to be addressed both domestically by better regulations as well as international cooperation,” he said in a statement.

The minister added that the purity of the democratic process should never be compromised and India would take all required steps to deter and punish those who seek to vitiate this process.
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Here's how social media pages are good source for making a quick buck

Those of us even sparsely active on social media must have at some point of scrolling through an ocean of posts come across images of Indian army soldiers, with the caption – “share if you are a true Indian”. The not-so-subtle nudge at our patriotism gets us to do as intended and the post goes viral; rarely do we wonder that the image might have an ulterior motive.

A thriving business
They say sharing is caring and a closed Facebook group by the same name seems to live the thought on a daily basis. The group asks for a government ID proof if you wish to join it and once you’re inside the circle of over 18,000 individuals, you can buy or sell patriotism, misogyny, politics, Bollywood, nationalism and even God.

1. Modi and BJP
With the advent of the internet, social media has become a money-making factory. Facebook is no longer limited to connecting with friends and playing Farmville but a place to easily connect with potential buyers. As more and more people got politically active on Facebook, a silent market emerged.

Ankit Pandey
In a May 2017 article, we chronicled the activities of Pandey – how he made a mint in sleazy and pro-BJP websites that supplied regular content to Facebook pages.
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Facebook blocking bogus accounts, monitoring abuse to combat fake news

Social media giant Facebook has said that it has initiated a series of measures, including blocking fake accounts to combat fake news, proactively monitor abuse and increase advertisement transparency as part of its efforts to prevent outsiders' interference in any general elections across the world.

Facebook has been facing criticism for helping to spur violence and for its policies surrounding misinformation in general.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and CEO, had to face grilling in the US and in the European parliament over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook was accused of unduly influencing the 2016 US electoral process.

The social media giant has done some work in the first half of this year to combat fake news all around the world like in Italy, Colombia, Turkey, and even the primaries for US midterms. By the end of the year it will have focused on more than 50 national elections all around the world, Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebook's head of the civic engagement, said.

Facebook announces original news shows, harps on 'trusted content'

Facebook today announced its first original news shows for the social network, joining other online platforms producing video to compete with television.

The news shows will be produced for Facebook by a variety of partners including CNN, Fox News, ABC News and Univision. The programs are producing the social network's on-demand video service called Facebook Watch, which is part of an effort to compete with platforms such as Google-owned YouTube, and potentially develop a wider following.

Facebook said the launch of news shows was also aimed at offering its members "trusted" content following concerns that the platform was used to spread misinformation. "Earlier this year we made a commitment to show news that is trustworthy, informative, and local on Facebook," said a statement from Facebook news partnerships chief Campbell Brown.

"As a part of that commitment, we are creating a dedicated section within Watch for news shows produced exclusively for Facebook by news publishers. With this effort, we are testing a destination for high quality and timely news content on the platform."

Fake news: After uproar in media, PM Modi asks notice to be withdrawn

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed that the press release regarding the crackdown on the menace of fake news issued by the Union Information & Broasting ministry be withdrawn. He stated that the matter should only be addressed in Press Council of India, as reported in ANI.

The Information & Broadcasting Ministry, led by Smriti Irani on Monday laid down the amended guidelines in a press release stating that the accreditation of a journalist could be permanently cancelled if the scribe is found generating or propagating fake news. The press release also cited an increase in “instances of fake across various mediums, including print and electronic media,” the new guidelines propose that the government would permanently cancel the accreditation of journalists found guilty or creating or disseminating fake news.

The withdrawal decision by PM Modi comes at a time when Union Minister Smriti Irani was asking for suggestions on Twitter to fight the menace of ‘fake news’ to uphold ethical journalism. "Interested journalists and/or organisations may feel free to meet me at @MIB_India", Smriti Irani had tweeted.