India-Pakistan Conflict: Time To Fight The ‘Fake News’ War

There’s supposed to be a ceasefire between India and Pakistan now, but the biggest lesson from this past week was that India needs to find a way to cease the tirade of misinformation and fake news.

Because the conflict is not yet over: just hours after the ceasefire was announced, reports of more explosions came in from Srinagar. So the situation is still uncertain, and it’s more important than ever to ensure that misinformation is not weaponised.

This week there was a proliferation of fake videos and fabricated stories, warmongering on national TV and incessant flow of rumours on WhatsApp, X and Instagram — it was a trifecta that created a panic-like situation in India, even as tensions on the border escalated.

Whether this was a war or not, the onslaught of misinformation made it feel like one.

At one point in the week, this seemed like a war to find the right and credible source of information, and not be swept away in jingoistic narratives.

So this Sunday, it’s time to grapple with the misinformation issue that has been plaguing India for years now, through every tragedy and calamity and in times of crisis. But before we go there, a look at the top stories from our newsroom this week:

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A War Of Words

Fake news got so bad this week that as Indians waited with bated breath for any update on the situation on the border, the representatives of the armed forces were forced to begin their press briefing by debunking stories doing the rounds.

While it’s hard to trace the origin of these stories about Indian air force bases being hit, it was said that they are likely to have originated from Pakistani social media accounts before making their way to India. Others about the ‘attacks’ on Pakistani cities seem to have come from Indian accounts.

Even though army officials busted these fakes, the previous night, many of India’s most prominent news channels had already carried these stories, and there were posts on X too. Of course, the next day, these posts were gone after hours of spreading panic and fear, and only after fact-checkers pointed out their over-enthusiasm.

Of course, there was a lot of propaganda and speculation originating in Pakistan as well, but even noted journalists fell for rumours and did not have the temperament to verify such information before spreading it to millions of their followers.

Digital media outlets were not far behind; many ran stories and then pulled them down just as the news was revealed to be fabricated. It was a race to see who could get the fake news out the fastest, and not many stopped to question what they’re putting out there.

Here’s a look at some of the fake news doing the rounds on official TV channels and handles.

Now this is not the first time that a barrage of misinformation hit the airwaves and social media feeds en masse. We have seen this in the past during moments of mass upheaval or violence in states such as Manipur two years ago or the West Bengal situation earlier this year.

But the sheer variety of ways in which misinformation was being spread was staggering. Just as news channels and big social media accounts simmered down, a new piece of fake news popped up to give them new fuel. And it was staggering to see just how easy it was to get something on national TV.

We saw images from Afghanistan, Gaza, scenes from video games and a lot more being passed off as credible footage of the ‘war’ between India and Pakistan. Even if there was no room for being accurate, the word ‘war’ was being used liberally without anyone bothering to ask the armies on either side or the defence ministry.

The Press Information Bureau’s fact-checking handle on X had 1-2 posts a day in the first week of May, but by the end of this week, the handle was fighting fake news overtime.

Ahmedabad-based Alt News, founded by Pratik Sinha and Mohammed Zubair, was also working overtime. It took the lead in battling individual pieces of misinformation on X and Facebook.

Incidentally, Alt News was once the victim of allegations which were later dismissed about some of its funds originating from Pakistan, but after the incidents of May 8 and May 9, Zubair in particular has drawn wide praise from even those who had criticised him in the past.

“After India’s retaliatory strikes, a seemingly nervous Pakistan has resorted to spreading fake news and misinformation in the digital space. It is fabricating stories of miraculous military victories which reflect Islamabad’s deliberate attempt to mislead the media, distort the global narrative, and manipulate public perception,” the government’s statement on PIB said this week.

The central government also debunked false claims that a missile from Pakistan struck India’s S-400 missile air defence system.

Misinformation In Times Of Conflict

Meanwhile, X was asked to block close to 8,000 accounts in India by the government for their involvement in spreading fake news during times of conflict.  But social media platforms could not keep up with the stream of misinformation and fake news directly. Instagram was rife with videos from completely unrelated incidents, while X and Facebook were similarly rife with misinformation.

On Meta-owned WhatsApp, completely unverified information was being spread among hundreds and thousands of group chats and communities. It’s safe to say that when it comes to this particular India-Pakistan border conflict, social media giants completely dropped the ball.

And this after decimating their budgets for moderating hate speech and rumour-mongering, and laying off employees that were responsible for content moderation.

This begs the question will India actually bring in rules to mandate content moderation for such platforms? India’s IT rules mandate intermediaries such as Facebook, Instagram and X to remove content that is flagged by government authorities. However, platforms do not need to act on user reports, and only select groups of individuals have been given the right to flag content as being fake news.

Over the years, we have seen various approaches towards cleaning up platforms of fake news, but somehow, the companies have given up in the age of AI. It’s almost as if they’re saying we just cannot keep up with the pace of content creation.

The clearest solution to fake news was AI-driven moderation mixed with human effort, but platforms have decided to now give up on this.

Will The Law Step Up?

This is why many believe that government legislation needs to mandate that social media platforms pay more attention to what’s being posted. After all, this is the bargain they made when they earned intermediary status.

Thus far India does not have a clear law that targets the dissemination of fake news. Registered newspapers and TV channels do have to comply with standards as advised by India’s information & broadcasting ministry. Many experts feel this needs to change — several bills have been floated in both houses of Parliament but none have made the distance to become an act.

India’s pace of formulating legislation for new-age concerns and issues has been slow. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 was years in the making. Any laws related to fake news and misinformation would have to go through the churn of Parliament and is unlikely to be ready for enforcement any time soon.

Hopefully, now with a ceasefire potentially in place, the Indian government has the time to think about how to not only deal with terrorism and acts of aggression militarily but also how to tackle the inevitable barrage of misinformation that will come with it.

If the past week is any indication, while terror incidents and conflicts may be local in nature, fear and panic can spread even through tweets and social media posts. And if you add the reach of national TV channels to this mix, it’s a recipe for disaster.

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