Fake news is now being spread in an organised manner and is being used as a weapon to spread hatred, actor Prakash Raj said here on Monday.
He was speaking at the release of a BBC research report which found that there was an overlap between fake news and pro-BJP political activity in India.
“Using big data analysis of networks within Twitter, the BBC has found that in India, left wing sources of fake news are only loosely aligned, if at all, while right wing sources of fake news are very closely linked. This allows right leaning fake news to spread more effectively than left leaning fake news,” the report said.
Mr. Prakash Raj, who released the report, said there was an inherent bias among certain people in the country to spread such fake news. “If there is a forest fire, one cannot blame the fire alone…there are trees that are ready to catch fire. The same kind of situation exists here,” he said. He added that all political parties indulged in propagating fake news.
Threat of polarisation
The BBC’s research found that fake news stories about India’s progress, Hindu power and revival of lost Hindu glory were being shared widely without any attempt at fact-checking. “In sharing these messages, people feel like they are nation building,” it said.
Novelist-journalist Vaasanthi said polarisation was a big danger to democracy and there was a fear “whether we have gone back to primitive times”.
Congress national spokesperson Khushbu said people should desist from forwarding unverified news. “You don’t know the impact, because you are not directly affected. If someone spreads canards about your family, will you share such stuff?” she asked.
BJP’s Narayanan Thirupathy said it could not be denied that fake news was affecting society and politics.