New Delhi: There is no such thing as “good fake news” and “bad fake news”, and they are both just misinformation, says Rakesh Dubbudu, the founder of Factly, a fact-checking and data journalism portal.
“First of all, we should all come out of this distinction. Irrespective of what the message is, if there is something wrong, something false, then it is fake news,” he said at Democracy Wall, a free-speech campus initiative organised by ThePrint in collaboration with Facebook. “It doesn’t matter whether the message is positive or negative.”
“What fake news does to you as a person, as a rational human being, is that it dumbs down your intellectual agency and makes you more gullible,” he added, “Irrespective of whether something is good or bad, misinformation is misinformation.”
Dubbudu was one of several guests at the first edition of the second season of Democracy Wall, held at CMR College of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad, Friday. Asaduddin Owaisi, the Lok Sabha member for Hyderabad, rapper/singer Sofia Ashraf, actor Nimrat Kaur and IPS officer Rema Rajeshwari were the other invitees.
‘Be a doubting Thomas’
Weighing in on the fake news problem confronting the world, Dubbudu said ordinary citizens could prevent fake news dissemination.
“A lot of times, our choice of spreading information is directly linked to what we like and what we dislike,” he added, “So, if there is some message that is to your liking, doubt it twice. Let us all be a doubting Thomas, there is nothing wrong in being a doubting Thomas.”
Whenever one receives a message seeking to peddle a fact, he said, people should Google it for verification. If doubts persist, he added, one should send that message to a fact-checking agency.
“Please make it a point to rebut, to say that something is false. Our parents’ generation is using technology for the first time,” he said, “So any message they receive, please tell them not to forward it blindly.”
Cautioning the audience that anyone can be a victim of fake news, he said, “the worst-case scenario is that a lot of people think that nothing will happen to them. But we all could become victims”.
To understand what is true and what is not, it’s important to trust one’s instincts, he added.
“If tomorrow somebody sends you a message saying that there won’t be any final exams and you’ll be graded based on how you behave in the classroom, will you believe it?” he asked.
“If there is anything which is too good to be true, then it will be false 99.9 per cent of the times,” he said.
Also read: Facebook’s push to stop fake news in India isn’t working well
Opinion vs informed opinion
Stressing the difference between opinion and informed opinion, he said the latter was critical to a democracy’s functioning. “If democracy has to thrive and our votes have to be fruitful, then we all need to have an informed opinion,” he said.
He also stated that we should not allow any objectionable behaviour online.
“Most technology companies have something known as community standards. So on community standards, disallow any online objectionable behaviour,” he said, adding that public action can help curb this menace.
“The behaviour could be harassing people or threatening them. You can obviously report. The more you report, the more the companies are likely to take action.”
During the event, Dubbudu also discussed how Factly operates. “What we do is, any message or post that comes to our notice and people report it to us saying it could be potentially false, we do a fact-check and write a story saying whether it is true or false.”
Also read: Finland has found the most effective method to counter fake news – education
While on the topic of deceit and fake ness, let me explain the techniques in further detail:
“al taqiyya is outright lying. It is one of the three ways of deception against the Disbelievers taught to all Muslims that are permitted in Islam.
The others are al kitman or the use half truths or misquoting from the Qur’an, quoting something that is abrogated or not applicable to the answer and such.
Then you have al muruna or misdirection and using something else to misdirect the Disbeliever.
Muslims will say that Mary, mother of Christ, was 12 when she bore Jesus, so, it’s OK for Mohammed to take 6 year old (5 in our current solar calendar) Aisha. This is a typical use of al muruna – misdirection.
Muslims will answer saying ‘la iqraha fid deen’ or No compulsion in Religion, quoting an abrogated verse that is not valid, or cite ‘Surat al Kaffiroon’ when asked about the forced conversions. That is al kitman.
Muslims will say that the violent verses do not apply to today and were only valid for the time they were revealed, though they know that it is directed at them for all time. That and anything else that is an outright lie is al taqiyya. Another example of al taqiyya is the Sunni claim that only Shi’a practice al taqiyya.”
“tawriya, a doctrine that allows lying in virtually all circumstances—including to fellow Muslims and by swearing to Allah—provided the liar is creative enough to articulate his deceit in a way that is true to him.”
“Here is an example of tawriya in action: Because it is a “great sin” for Muslims to acknowledge Christmas, this sheikh counsels Muslims to tell Christians, “I wish you the best,” whereby the latter might “understand it to mean you’re wishing them best in terms of their [Christmas] celebration.” But—here the wily sheikh giggles as he explains—”by saying I wish you the best, you mean in your heart I wish you become a Muslim.”
“To realize these, Muslims, through tawriya, are given a blank check to lie—a check that surely comes in handy: not just in trivial occasions, like avoiding unwanted callers, but momentous ones, such as at high-level diplomatic meetings where major treaties are forged.”
If it comes from the mouth of a faithful muslim, then it’s a lie. They are taught by their Ummah on how to deceive nonbelievers by way of al muruna (misdirection), al kitman (the use half-truths or misquote), al tawriya (creative lying) and al taqiyya (outright lying).
Tawriya – deceit by ambiguity
Taqiyya- deceit for purpose of spreading islam
Kitman- deceit by omission
Muruna – deceit by temporary suspension of sharia
Darura – deceit through necessity
Taysir – deceit through facilitation
From: Reliance of the traveler (English version of Islamic Jurisprudence)
The gushing praise for Arun Jaitley, by The Print
A man who was the supporter of the Butcher of Gujarat for PM,
Jaitley the justifier of the abrogation of Artile 170, the henchman of the RSS
Varnishing him as the pdrfect gentleman
Is an attempt to mislead the public.
All eulogies to this fascist and portraying him as a hero is fake news.