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Notion of ‘nationalism’ behind rampant fake news in India, says BBC study

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Fake News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A BBC study on how disinformation and fake news found an overlap of fake news sources on Twitter and support networks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Facts were less important to some than the emotional desire to bolster national identity, the research found.

“A rising tide of nationalism in India is driving ordinary citizens to spread fake news,” the study said.

This explains the puzzling sense of pride one finds in people propagating disinformation in posts on WhasApp and social media pushing Hindutva as nationalism, denigrating minorities and Scheduled Castes.

The research, commissioned by the BBC World Service and published today (Monday, November 12), forms part of “Beyond Fake News” – a series across TV, radio and digital that aims to investigate how disinformation and fake news are affecting people around the world.

Moreover, this disinformation and fake news dominance is owing to the fact that right-wing networks are much more organised than on the left, pushing nationalistic fake stories further, the BBC social media analysis suggests.

Significantly, the research found an overlap of fake news sources on Twitter and support networks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A website dedicated to busting fake news, AltNrews, in fact, found BJP IT cell and other right wing groups involved in spreading fake news repeatedly and regularly.

BBC said the findings come from extensive research in India, Kenya, and Nigeria into the way ordinary citizens engage with and spread fake news.

Participants gave the BBC extensive access to their phones over a seven-day period, allowing the researchers to examine the kinds of material they shared, whom they shared it with and how often.

“In all three countries, distrust of mainstream news outlets pushed people to spread information from alternative sources, without attempting to verify it, in the belief that they were helping to spread the real story,” the BBC study found.

At the same time, it found, people were also overly confident in their ability to spot fake news.

The sheer flood of digital information being spread in 2018 is worsening the problem. Participants in the BBC research made little attempt to query the original source of fake news messages, looking instead to alternative signs that the information was reliable.

These included the number of comments on a Facebook post, the kinds of images on the posts, or the sender, with people assuming WhatsApp messages from family and friends could be trusted and sent on without checking.

Widespread sharing of false rumours on WhatsApp has led to a wave of violence in India, with people forwarding on fake messages about child abductors to friends and family out of a sense of duty to protect loved ones and communities, the study noted.

According to a separate BBC analysis, at least 32 people have been killed in the past year in incidents involving rumours spread on social media or messaging apps.

Researchers also conducted extensive analysis of how fake news spreads on Twitter and Facebook in India, to understand whether the spread of fake news was politically polarised.

The results showed a strong and coherent promotion of right-wing messages, while left-wing fake news networks were loosely organised, if at all, and less effective.

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“This is the first known research project in these countries that uses these methods to understand the fake news phenomenon at the level of ordinary citizens,” the BBC said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

PM Modi says Congress leaders consider themselves above Lord Ram

PM Modi slammed Congress during a rally in Chhattisgarh, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress party for declining to attend the pran pratishtha ritual at the Ayodhya Ram temple on January 22 this year.

The prime minister said Congress leaders consider themselves above Lord Ram and denied invitation for Pran Pratishtha at Ram Temple, while speaking at a rally in Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh. The PM question the people present at the rally that is it not a disrespect of Mata Shabri? Congress leaders inclination toward appeasement politics runs in their family.

For political appeasement, they won’t think twice about stealing the rights of Adivasis, the poor, and Dalits. Poor, young, and women are BJP’s top priorities, Modi said.

PM Modi criticized the Congress again during the rally for claiming that the BJP would alter the constitution.

The leaders of Congress recite the same old phrases whenever an election is about to happen, the PM said. He also said they claim that if the BJP wins power, it will renounce the constitution and abolish reservations. For how long will you continue selling lies?” he asked.

The prime minister continued saying that nobody can change the Constitution, even if Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar were to come and insist on it, it wouldn’t happen.

Those in the Congress threaten to break Modi’s head. Nobody can harm Modi as long as the mothers and sisters of this county stands by him. These mothers and sisters are Raksha Kavach, Modi remarked.

The prime minister further attacked the Congress after Viriato Fernandes, the party’s candidate for South Goa, asserted that Goa was forced to adopt the Indian Constitution.

Referring to his conversation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Fernandes said he had told him, when Goa was liberated in the year 1961, the Indian Constitution was forced upon us.

The prime minister said, Congress candidate from Goa says Constitution was forced upon Goans; is this not an insult of Ambedkar and Constitution.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Amit Shah says neither Congress nor Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee can interfere with CAA

Amit Shah revealed the BJP’s target for West Bengal and said they have set a target of winning 35 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal.

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Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said neither Congress nor Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee can interfere with the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He was speaking at the Karandighi rally in West Bengal where he also made the prediction as to how many seats BJP will win in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal.

The union home minister asked the masses to cut the money culture. Amit Shah revealed the BJP’s target for West Bengal and said they have set a target of winning 35 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections the BJP had won 18 out of 42 seats in West Bengal. He asked Mamata Banerjee, what problem will she have if the Buddhist and Hindu refugees from Bangladesh get citizenship in India?

Shah further added if the people of West Bengal want to stop infiltration in the state, then they will have to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of India again. He said if the people of West Bengal want to free Bengal of violence, stop infiltration in the state, give citizenship to refugees, to stop disrespecting mothers and sisters of the state as it happened in Sandeshkhali, then  only way is to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister.

Amit Shah said that PM Modi had sent Rs 7 lakh crore to West Bengal but the TMC indulged in corruption. He said one can see the houses of Trinamool Congress leaders; 10 years ago they used to live in a hut, moved on cycle and now all of them have 4-storey houses and move around in big cars. He added this is the money of people of West Bengal.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), will make it easier for non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to get Indian citizenship, was enacted in 2019. But the rules were notified in March this year by the Centre.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says listening to Hanuman Chalisa under Congress rule is a crime

PM Modi was addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, on a day as India celebrates Hanuman Jayanti.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at the Congress and said even listening to Hanuman Chalisa has become a crime under the party’s rule. The Prime Minister also said it was difficult to follow one’s faith under the party and accused it of hatching a deep conspiracy to snatch people’s wealth and distribute it among selected few people in the society. PM Modi was addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, on a day as India celebrates Hanuman Jayanti.

PM Modi said in a state like Rajasthan where people chant Ram-Ram, Congress banned Ram Navami. He reffered to the redistribution of wealth remarks he had made during a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday and said it has angered the Congress and INDI Alliance so much that they have started throwing abuses at Modi everywhere.

The Prime Minister said that Congress has written in their manifesto that they will survey the wealth. He said the Congress leadership had said in a speech that an X-ray of wealth will be done. He added when Modi exposed the secret then the hidden agenda came out and this has left the people trembling. PM Modi further added that the Congress party has played with the Constitution of the India.

He said when the Constitution was drafted, reservations based on religion were opposed, so that Scheduled Casts (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) could get protection. He said former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had said that Muslims have the first right to the country’s resources.  The prime minister further added Congress’s ideology has always been of appeasement and vote bank politics. He said stones would still be pelted in Jammu and Kashmir, and enemies would still be cutting off the heads of India’s soldiers had Congress been in power.

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