Accountability must for social media: Pratik Sinha
Speaking at the TiE Global Summit 2020, he said social media companies use a business model that leverages user engagement to generate advertisement revenues
Hyderabad: Many politicians and bureaucrats are using social media to push a false narrative and are spreading misinformation. There is a need to put in place a system where endusers can check the source of the information floating in the social media, said Pratik Sinha, founder of fact checking website Atlnews.
Speaking at the TiE Global Summit 2020, he said social media companies use a business model that leverages user engagement to generate advertisement revenues. In this pursuit, they show content that will engage viewers for a longer period. “It is a poisonous entertainment and many times videos that involve violence also float in the social media,” he said.
Companies like Facebook, if they want, can control what content will be consumed by users. While it could stop some content in the US from going viral but did not show a similar intent in India to stop certain instances of misinformation, he pointed out. The misinformation and misrepresentation on the social media reached a peak during 2015-16 and the effort was mainly to show members of muslim community in a bad light including attributing violence and unrelated incidents to them.
The social media was also used to defame citizen protests that happened in the recent times. Even as the farmers’ agitation is on, several attempts are being made to malign them by stitching old videos. Altnews has debunked at least 20 such video that attempted to show the protesting farmers in a bad light. Many government, officials and politicians are able to get away even after making demeaning statements as there is no system in place to make them accountable or to verify the source of the content, said the software professional turned digital investigator.
Citing another instance of fake news ruling the roost, he said there is an overdose of misinformation on Covid, medical protocols being followed, efficacy of `kadha’ and immunity boosters and more. Altnews conducted an essay writing competition for students on Covid and most students have just picked random information flowing on the Whatsapp for the eassy. The startup trained the students on tools available for verifying facts by debunking the false narratives, he said.
“Misinformation campaigns are well coordinated and are happening at an industry level. Not many know that a softwares like Photoshop and the like exist and they will be in no position to verify its source. However, they will be consuming the content sent out. Low digital literacy is one of the reasons that are helping misinformation campaigns,” Sinha said adding that the educational institutions should start teaching their students to fact-check to put a halt to misinformation and misrepresentation. Mainstream media too is falling for the fake content on the social media. Some independent journalists are now using technology tools to understand the source of information they are receiving, he said.
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