Rise of misinformation and fake news in India has created a whole new eco-system of fact-checking sites and system of training journalists with new tools.
While this is welcoming, the challenge lies in reaching out to a larger population. This can be achieved through hyper- local partnerships, say industry players.
Pratik Sinha, founder of fact-checking site Alt News, said the amount of misinformation is constantly on the rise due to the increased consumption of data even in rural areas. However, this is not matched by higher digital literacy. The spread of misinformation across sectors has even resulted in violence, and sometimes even death.
Investments in place
Such incidents provoked social media players such as Facebook to have scanners in place, and invest heavily to fight fake news. For instance, Google announced that it would invest $300 million over three years to tackle fake news.
This includes ‘Google News Initiative’ where it will train journalists on Google’s tools for journalism. Facebook is investing $8 million in programmes that support news publishers such as Facebook Journalism Project and Facebook Membership Accelerator programme.
It partnered with fact-checking site Boom and Chennai-based Asian College of Journalism recently for its Facebook Membership Accelerator. In addition, these tech giants are also investing in start-ups in the Fake News space that have come up in recent times. Facebook recently acquired UK-based Bloomsbury AI to fight fake news. Google funded Belgian start-up VeriFlix for the same purpose.
Sinha said, “We are a not-for-profit company that runs on donations. What we have found out is that sustainability is not a challenge but reaching out to the population is.”
To increase its reach the organisation is partnering with local newspaper organisations. Through these partnerships, Sinha said they are trying to create awareness about misinformation and fake news.
Siva Nadarajah, who started the US-based Verify.Wiki to debunk fake news, agrees that local partnerships are significant in combating fake news. That is, Nadarajah said that the company hires journalism students and invests in localised Facebook advertising.