Fake Videos Cause Riots, FB Has to Stop It: Alt News’ Pratik Sinha

Sinha said Facebook and others have the responsibility to at least remove fake content which can cause riots.

Pratik Sinha talks about fake news on social media.

(Photo: The Quint)

It is possible that many photos, videos and articles coming your way while browsing through social media are fake, but how do you avoid becoming a “webqoof”?

We asked fact-checking website Alt News’ founder Pratik Sinha this question.

We don’t have a technology to identify fake news. But there are techniques like certain filters one can use when searching on Google, and these filters can provide fast and accurate information. Identifying fake news in India isn’t difficult.

Pratik Sinha added that social media websites like Facebook has a responsibility to at least remove videos and other types of fake news which have been exposed, especially in India where communal rumours online have sparked riots.

How Can People in Rural Areas Identify Fake News?

People in urban areas may be able to differentiate between real and fake news to an extent. But how do people in rural areas, who are slowly gaining access to the internet, identify fake news? Pratik Sinha responded, “Since there is no technology to identify fake news, they need to be educated about it.”

We have WhatsApp and Twitter, but no tool that can help us identify if a photo or video is real or fake.       

Pratik Sinha, Co-Founder, Altnews.in     

Pratik Sinha also said that scope of fake news increases proportionally with the increase in the scope of social media. In India, he said, WhatsApp is the fastest perpetrator of fake news and the most difficult to trace.