Coronavirus | Police get a guide to detect fake news

May 09, 2020 05:26 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 12:10 pm IST The Bureau of Police Research and Development has published a step-by-step guide for law enforcement agencies to identify “fake news” and videos intended to spread panic through hatred and communal violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The think-tank under the Union Home Ministry, in the detailed guide, has said “digital news has brought back and increased the usage of fake news or yellow journalism” usually “published with the intent to damage an agency, entity or a person and gain financially or politically “often using sensationalist, dishonest or outright fabricated headlines to increase readership.” To explain the communal aspect, the guidelines include a screenshot of a fake video which accused Muslims of licking cleaned plates and spoons to “transfer the virus to people at large.” Fake URLs It also attached a clip where miscreants used fake URLs to mislead people who wanted to donate to PM-CARES fund. The research body, however, cautioned that the “Investigating officer may consider the case sensitivity because these websites are hosted on foreign servers/cloud systems, that may influence or mislead the investigation due to data leakage.” The manual said some points to identify fake news were when headlines, visuals or captions do not support the content or when “genuine contents or sources are impersonated with false or made-up sources” and content is fabricated to deceive and harm. It asked them to read the whole story and also do a “quick search on the author” if he or she is “reliable and real.” “The extensive spread of fake news has the potential to gravely impact individuals as well as the society at large.