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WhatsApp Journalism

India’s misinformation crisis: Fake or real?

Deconstructing the 'fake news' phenomenon in India, and how not to get fooled by the next annoying WhatsApp forward from your uncle

18/11/16

Venkat Ananth

To the heady mix of human psychology, partisan interests, malicious intent and algorithms, you get a lethal weapon to sway public opinion - Fake News

WhatsApp’s broadcast message service and its groups feature are increasingly used by political parties for propaganda purposes

Propaganda aside, messages often range from a rumour to a data point, or even a made-up piece of information, often to confuse people

The kind of soul searching Western media is engaging in is not visible in India yet

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Earlier this week, in Bihar’s Chhapra district, as part of the recent demonetisation drive, income tax officials conducted raids on several doctors. One of them was Dr RB Sinha (65).

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