Elections in the Time of Data
MUMBAI: On 5th March, Asia Society India Centre, in partnership with Bloomberg, hosted Govindraj Ethiraj of IndiaSpend and Jeanette Rodrigues of Bloomberg for a conversation on the use of data, social media in election campaigning and debunking fake news. This programme was the third in the India Elections Series, discussing the themes of governance, leadership, and institutions in the run-up to the General Elections.
Our Programme Officer Karishma Talwar mentioned in her opening address, an excerpt from one of our previous election programmes where Mr. Praful Patel of the INC remarked that the nature of elections was fast changing owing to social media and big data.
The programme began with Govind making a short presentation on the lifecycle of fake news: how it is generated, how it circulates and penetrates deep through various platforms and on why we tend to believe it so easily. By 2017-18, it was recognized that fake news is a full-blown issue even for India, and it had the potential to change the way elections and day to day news was functioning. From products and services to news and governance, everyone has been a victim of fake news at some point. This is primarily because people are as much consumers as they are creators. He used the most recent example of the aftermath of the Pulwama attacks to highlight how unchecked facts tend to go viral in a distress situation, which further aggravates panic amongst the people.
On the question of what we can do to control the fake news in circulation in an age when news travels so fast, and through multiple mediums, Govind talks about how misinformation plays a big role in every sphere, from medicine and entertainment to politics and business. The power of targeting, large enterprises like Cambridge Analytica, coupled with big data are major influencers of how news gets around today. Highlighting the positive impact that social media (especially Facebook) can have, Govind pointed out how BJP effectively mobilized these mediums during the 2014 General Elections which altered the way parties look at electioneering today.
Jeanette then asked Govind to summarize in 3 points how to recognise fake news effectively; Awareness before education and choosing your sources of news correctly were of prime importance. To refrain from forwarding, as it is risky and creates a huge data blitz. He also advocated for specialized sites for those who like to read up frequently, since they report on specific topics and not general news and would most likely have higher accuracy.
Watch the complete programme here: https://asiasociety.org/video/how-social-media-misinformation-affects-e…
As reported by Charmi Mehta, Programme Development Intern, Asia Society India Centre.
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