Fake News and Voting Behavior

Incidents

  • On Twitter, researchers discovered evidence of political parties using bots to boost their follower counts, or to retweet, like, or share content that supported their campaigns. Automated accounts allow you to reach more audiences, and if you can generate trends, you can generate truth.
  • The recent Twitter purge of fake accounts, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi lost 300,000 followers and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lost 17,000, speaks of how widespread bot activity is among India’s political candidates.
  • Even during some state elections this year, WhatsApp reportedly housed rampant misinformation from multiple political actors. With over 200 million active users, WhatsApp is the most widely-used messaging app in India.

Current mechanism

  • Right now the only mechanism is Section 126 and EC instructions on paid news. The section 126 prohibits displaying any election matter by means, inter alia, of television or similar apparatus, during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency”.

What is fake news?

  • Fake news is a type of yellow journalism that consists of deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread via the traditional print, broadcasting news media, or via Internet-based social media. Fake news is written and published with the intent to mislead in order to gain financially or politically, often with sensationalist, exaggerated, or patently false headlines that grab attention.
Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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