FAKE NEWS getting Real Threats

Social media has become an integral part of our daily life, especially the online messaging applications. In today’s era of digital communication, spreading of news and information takes place through the internet-based services and this happens at a very fast pace. Believe me, it’s faster than forests’ fire. The false news is what we call a FAKE NEWS.

Earlier, when news was shared person to person, it took more time to spread; but nowadays’ digital world these fake information gets viral and reaches millions in a very short span of time. Every day we come across tons of social media news and information shared by number of peoples, in which some are true while some appears to be true. But what the concern is, we believe in every news we got in the social media.

Ever thought WHY???

Simple, because it is send by some of our family members, or friends, or any colleague. Then it must be true. We trust the person, so we trust the news. And secondly, we are not aware about the facts to identify true and fake news.

WE MUST NOT DO THIS!!!

Because the only agenda of these fake news is to influence people’s opinion on some political agenda, or some monetary gains, or just gaining profit by causing confusion.

FAKE NEWS are half-truth twisted in a way to be believed.

Fake news are the biggest enemies nowadays, and need to be guarded against one.

TYPES OF FAKE NEWS:

You will find fake information nearly in every field of the cyber world, whether it is social media, or e-commerce, or even educational one. The fake news can be categorized as:

Figure 1: Categorization of False Information/ Fake News

Fake news can be categorized as intend and knowledge content. The indent category can be subdivided as misinformation— have no intend to mislead, and disinformation—have intend to mislead and deceive the reader. Both have the negative influence, but the latter is more dangerous as the creator’s primary aim is malicious.

Knowledge, the second category can be divided as opinion-based—unique ground truth does not exist in case of reviewing e-commerce website, or as fact-based, and fact-based—hide the original facts and share only the malicious one.

HOW TO SPOT THE FAKE NEWS?

The question arises how to spot the fake news out of the true news?

Yes, it might be a difficult task but is not impossible to find. You need to have a calm and concentrated mind and must know the facts to identify the fake news. Let’s discuss some of the common ways to identify fake news:

1. Take a closer look: Check for the source of the information. The website is legitimate or not? If you are aware of the site or organization mentioned in the information, check their official website and look for any claim made by the organization as described in the information.
   

   Look at the image below,

   

   Figure 2. Fake News of Cadbury giving Free Gift Hampers

   Cadbury is giving FREE chocolate gift hamper. When you will click on link, it will ask for your personal information, like name, contact no, address to send the GIFT HAMPER, and so like, and finally will ask you to share it with 10 other people to claim your device.

   Now here, if you go to Google and search for Cadbury India, you won’t find any legitimate website with cadburyindia.com. This is a phishing link and meant to collect your personal information by sharing false name of Cadbury.

   Ask yourself- IS THE URL REAL?



2. Look beyond the HEADING: Check the whole article, most of the fake information uses sensational and shocking news headlines to grab attention and user use the exclamation point. Reading full article will let you know and help you understand the meaning and the reality behind the HEADLINE.


3. Check other sources: Check for the number of sources of the news. Look on the different media, and other websites to confirm the authenticity of the news. Do not believe on the single news source.


4. Check the facts: Check for the published date and time. Fake news often contains incorrect date & time. It is also a good idea to check for the article publish time. Most of the mal-actors use old information or videos with the current issues to create a hoax among the mass..


5. Check your biases: A number of fake news’s are made to affect the personal belief so that the creator can gain some profit. Check if the particular news from any source are affecting your personal ideology or belief or judgement in a negative way..


6. Be aware of sarcastic websites: Many sarcastic websites post a news in a funny way and one can believe it if not understood it properly. So firstly check that the information ISN’T A JOKE! and not sarcasm..


7. Don’t get into Gluttony: About every fake news or information shared via social media are intended to be beneficial for its creator as he/she gains profit out of it. And they make use of human’s greedy nature and offers any advantage or free gifts and force the mass to click on the link or share it with others to claim the gift. Never ever get into such fraud claims which gives you something for FREE!!

Remember,

!!NO ONE IN THE WORLD WILL GIVE YOU ANYTHING FOR FREE!!

Sharing the fake information possess equal risk as creating the one.

Before sharing any information received on social media, first check its authenticity- whether it is genuine or not, and only share if it is genuine. Otherwise you could also be equally responsible for the crime and could get imprisonment and fine as mentioned below.

The various laws which controls the effect of fake news in India are:

• Section 66D of Information Technology Act: "Whoever, by means for any communication device or computer resource cheats by personating, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees."


• Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act: "Whoever makes or circulates a false alarm or warning as to disaster or its severity or magnitude, leading to panic, shall on conviction, be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one year or with fine."


• Section 505(1) of Indian Penal Code, 1860: "Whoever prints or engraves any matter, knowing or having good reason to believe that such matter is defamatory of any person, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both."


• Section 153 of Indian Penal Code: "Whoever malignantly, or wantonly, by doing anything which is illegal, gives provocation to any person intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause the offence of rioting to be committed, shall, if the offence of rioting be committed in consequence of such provocation, be punished with imprisonment of either de­scription for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both; and if the offence of rioting be not committed, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both."


• Section 499 and 500 of Indian Penal Code: Whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person. Up to 2 years of imprisonment, or fine, or both."

So, BE CAUTIOUS NEXT TIME YOU RECEIVE ANY FAKE INFORMATION. Remember what to do: check for authenticity, research the web and if it is FAKE- flag the news on social media, report to the law enforcement agency, and do not share further and inform your friends the same.

"...REMAIN CONNECTED, REMAIN INFORMED & REMAIN SECURE..."