“My son is unable to attend his kindergarten
classes! The moment we drop him at the school, somebody brings him back home.”
The father of 5 year old was wailing unable to find a solution. It so happened
that a few months back this kid was missing and one of his relative had
uploaded the photo of the kid with the address requesting anyone who finds the
kid to get him to the address. That was about 8 months back but the message is
been forwarded even to this day among the WhatsApp users.
It is found that we Indians are the most who forward
the messages, share the photos and videos on WhatsApp than people of any other
country. But the app now plans to bring in some restrictions on these to curb
the menace of fake and provocative messages. Last month I received a B + blood
request message forwarded to me. It had a contact number I called the number to
know which hospital I had to rush to. The person on the other side said that
the request was place two months before and now the patient had recovered and back
home. I called back my friend who had sent me the message. “I just forwarded
it, yaar!” was the replay. I don’t say it was irresponsibility of my friend, as
it would be difficult for him to go for the authenticity of the message before
forward it to others as the requirement of blood was the priority.
Now with the Independence Day around the corner
there is this message which is circulating, UNESCO has declared the Indian
National Anthem “ana Gana Mana” to be the best in the world. This message is been
circulated since March 2016 and it becomes more active among the WhatsApp users
when Republic Day or Independence Day is nearing. And what a patriotic lot we
are that we forward it even after knowing that United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have clarified that they don’t
declare best national anthem, best P.M or best Religion. They had to come up
with this declaration after a series of declarations in their name went viral
in India.
Recently there were false rumours forwarded about
child abduction which spread virally over WhatsApp, leading to several lynching
incidences. A photo of a man molesting a woman that was circulated on WhatsApp
triggered communal riots in West Bengal last year. Ironically the photo that was
in circulation was a screenshot from a Bhojpuri movie. There is no need to
confirm the authenticity most people don’t want to. It is called Confirmation
Bias; if the message suits their ideology they just forward it.
Added to this we have Parody Accounts on Twitter and
Facebook and a screenshot of this is used to trick the public. In a classic
example a parody page of Republic TV was shared by Shehla Rashid, the former
JNU student union leader which was then forwarded on WhatsApp. After the truth
came out and she and those who forwarded it had to face backlash and the page
was taken down, but as long as it was there, it created a lot of fake news
mischief.
Now what is the solution???
How about charging Rs. 10 for each message that is
forwarded……just a thought…!
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