Rising tide of fake news

Wednesday 18th September, 2024

There has been an increase in the recirculation of videos of past incidents via the Internet to confuse the public ahead of the forthcoming presidential election, the police have said, requesting the public not to be misled by such misinformation campaigns. They have warned that stringent action will be taken against those who are responsible for circulating such videos.

One can only hope that the public will be able to see through such propaganda ruses. It may be recalled that on the day of the 2010 presidential election, while voting was in progress, some state-owned media outlets stooped so low as to float baseless stories which were detrimental to the interests of the then common presidential candidate of the Opposition, Sarath Fonseka, but thankfully the Election Commission (EC) moved in swiftly to stop them. No such action may be possible against errant social media outfits which have become a law unto themselves.

Anything is possible in this digital age, as is common knowledge. The Internet is awash with doctored videos and other such propaganda material. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made possible what was considered impossible a few years ago, and AI-generated videos are in circulation, promoting or vilifying presidential candidates.

Propaganda campaigns are being carried out, according to Rafferty’s rules in the digital space, which is polluted by half-truths, mistruths and lies. Deepfake has become the order of the day if the sheer number of digitally manipulated images and videos doing the rounds on the Internet is any indication. The situation is bound to take a turn for the worse during the mandatory cooling-off period, which commences tomorrow.

The mainstream media outfits, save a handful, usually abide by the guidelines set out by the EC, which has warned that noncompliance will be severely dealt with, but they usually prove ineffective in regulating social media.

Misinformation has become a money-spinner. Cyber manipulators are already in overdrive, and what they will do during the mandatory campaign blackout period is anybody’s guess. Literally, they have the potential to set the country ablaze, as was seen in the aftermath of the savage SLPP goon attacks on the Galle Face protesters in May 2022, when the flames of retaliatory violence which left a government MP dead and many houses belonging to the ruling party politicians gutted were mostly stoked by social media posts. Besides, Sri Lankans have earned notoriety for mass hysteria, episodes of which are numerous.

One may recall that hundreds of thousands of people rushed to a village in Kegalle, during the Covid-19 pandemic, to buy an untested herbal syrup touted as a miracle cure. There have also been several instances where large crowds gathered near some religious statues, claiming that rays were emanating from them. Many people also fell for a story that a massive cobra had emerged from the Kelani Ganga ahead of a past presidential election. In the aftermath of the Xpress Pearl ship disaster in 2021, some social media activists triggered panic buying of salt, of all things; they claimed that there would be a shortage of table salt owing to sea pollution. Salt remained in short supply for weeks on end. The possibility of some sinister elements active on the Internet scaring the public into stocking up on food and fuel in a frenzied manner in view of the forthcoming election cannot be ruled out. It behoves the government to go all out to counter such moves.

Let the police and the EC be urged to redouble their efforts to prevent disruptive elements from spreading misinformation to confuse the public and plunge the country into chaos at this crucial juncture.