India is currently hit by an epidemic of fake news where rumours & hoaxes are spreading like wildfire on social media. It has triggered a spate of horrific episodes of mob lynching and violence. In the past one year, there have been over 27 such cases across India.
InUth spoke to Karnika Seth, a cyber law expert who explained how a fake news is created and circulated on social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Despite there being a law to deal with the content that incites violence, Seth said that it is very difficult to keep a track on it unless the security personnel have adequate training and requisite tools.
“Unless the investigating agencies are trained and have the adequate tools and infrastructure to detect such crimes on the net, it will be a mammoth task for the law enforcement agencies or even judiciary for that matter to act on it,” she cautioned.
The biggest onus lies on the state to deal with the issue so that lives are not lost, she added.
In the end, she also pointed out that citizens will have to take an active interest in battling this menace and listed out the ways through which one can check whether a news is genuine or fake.
