Causes of spread of fake news

 



     

   

Causes of Spread of Fake News In India

  • Erosion of Media Ethics: News media is no longer seen as an arbitrator of the ‘real news’. Media is alleged to be echo-chamber of the dominant political class.
    • Thus News Media have lost credibility due to complicit and motivated reporting, which has become a source of fake news.
  • Social Media: The advent of social media has decentralized the creation and propagationof fake news.
    • The sheer vastness of the internet (over 35 crore users in India) and social media users (an estimated over 20 crore WhatsApp users alone) makes tracing the origin of fake news almost impossible.
  • Polarization of society: Increasing divide in the society on ideological lines has made the job of spreading fake news easier.
  • Lack of legislation: There is no specific lawto deal with fake news in India.
    • Free publication or broadcast of news in India flows from the fundamental right to freedom of expression as enshrined under Article 19 of the Constitution
  • Confirmation Bias: Studies have confirmed that people don’t care about finding the ‘truth’ behind a news item and instead look for evidence to support their preferred narrative.

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