Why do ordinary citizens spread fake news without verification? Cherry Agarwal talks to Tarik Kafala, Controller of Languages at BBC World Service, and Santanu Chakrabarti, Head of Audience Insights, about this. They discuss BBC’s Beyond Fake News initiative, the economics of fake news, and the larger challenges posed by fake news. Kafala and Chakrabarti also talk about BBC’s recent report, Duty, Identity, Credibility: ‘Fake News’ and the ordinary citizen in India, which was published on November 12.

According to the report, among other factors, nationalism in India is the driving force behind the spread of fake news in the country. The report says that to be able to understand the spread of fake news, people's motivations to share fake news needs to be understood. These motivations, the report states, include “sharing for nation building” and “sharing as an expression of one’s socio-political identity”.

The report speaks about the kinds of narratives that predominate fake news messages. It says these messages, which are particularly effective at passing critical filters, include "Hindu power and superiority", "progress and national pride", and "personality and prowess of Prime Minister Modi", among others. These messages show that the “validation of identity trumps verification of facts”.

In the interview, Kafala and Chakrabarti define fake news, something that the report doesn’t do. They also talk about the role played by global political leaders such as US President Donald Trump in spreading fake news and why India, Kenya and Nigeria were chosen for research. “India is one of the largest markets, along with Kenya and Nigeria, which we strategically have an interest in. They are developed in terms of its media habits and connectivity,” Kafala says.

Kafala and Chakrabarti also talk about using fake news as a tool to curtail media freedom, and whether busting fake news is viable as an alternative business model. Cherry asks them to weigh in on curtailing the sharing of unverified information in today’s breaking-news cycle.

Finally, there is talk about media literacy and the credibility of the report itself. “Can a project be truly independent, if one of the sponsors is a platform which is being investigated?” Cherry asks.

Watch the interview to find out.


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