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July 2023

How to Spot and Avoid Fake News

By Yazdi Tantra, Chartered Accountant
Reading Time 5 mins
These days, there is a plethora of News and Information bombarding us from all sides – be it Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TV Channels, News Websites, Newspapers or even Radio! Very often we come to know after a few days / months that an earlier report was false. Sometimes, we may not even come to know of this, until it is too late. Hence, an average layperson is perplexed over what is true and what is not. In this brief writeup, we will try and understand how to spot and avoid Fake News. TYPES OF FAKE NEWS
Fake News can be of three types: a)    An honest mistake – where the propagator genuinely believes something to be true and announces it or forwards it without verifying. This can be rectified easily by a simple, sincere apology b)    Pranks - in this case, the propagator deliberately states something he knows to be false, just for the fun of it, to create mischief. He may even propagate it anonymously, since he knows the repercussions, but the purpose is solely to play a prank c)    Fake News – this is an intentional propagation of something, knowing it to be false, with the intention to cause benefit or hurt – religious, political or commercial. Of late, the number of cases in this category has been steadily rising. SO HOW DO WE SPOT AND COMBAT FAKE NEWS?
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