By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Jan. 6: When a major event -- be it political or pandemic -- hits the headlines, fake news reports related to that event start making their way through media, especially social media.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Fake news never fails to pique curiosity among a good number of people. Enthused by it, they share it to everyone they are friend with. This is how fake news spreads, reaching epic proportions.
No country, including Nepal, has been able to remain immune to this recent phenomenon of fake news.
In line with the regulating bodies throughout the world, Nepal Police and Press Council Nepal have been keeping an eye on the news being disseminated, along with taking necessary action against the ones responsible for creating or propagating fake news.
According to the officials monitoring fake news, it is easier to take action against those creating or disseminating fake news through print, radio, or television media, but it is really hard to bring those propagating it through social media to book.
“We receive complaints if news portals disseminate fake news and we ourselves also keep an eye on what news reports are being broadcast and shared. If it doesn’t pass the smell test, we start investigating it. Once it is proved fake, we will bring the culprit to account according to the law,” said Deepak Khanal, spokesperson at Press Council Nepal.
Khanal added that the matter is made worse by the people who share it without first testing its veracity.
“In some news portals, I have seen several fake news wherein the things politicians said years ago are made to feel like they said it just yesterday, and this is done to blemish the image as well as the reputation of their rivals from opposing parties. Additionally, when the nation was on the cusp of lockdown, one fake news after another making rounds on social media brought chaos and unrest among the general public, making it hard to maintain law and order in the country,” informed Khanal.
Press Council has banned 121 news portals disseminating fake news from operating since March 24 last year, when the government imposed the first nationwide lockdown, data provided by the Council showed.
While the council has been taking action against the portals creating fake news through print or digital media, Nepal Police has been monitoring fake news created through social media.
Cyber Bureau, the division of Nepal Police tasked with tackling digital crimes, has arrested several individuals on charge of posting false information related with senior level government officials and tampering with their images through social media.
However, officials there acknowledge that it is difficult to stop false news from spreading in social media because it is next to impossible to monitor each and every person using the social media.
Speaking to The Rising Nepal daily on multiple occasions, Spokesperson at the Cyber Bureau Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nabinda Aryal said, “People tend to share false news rather than report it to the police, and this problem is particularly more prevalent on social media. If this is not tamed, it has the potential to wreak havoc on the society. So, it is up to us, every individual, to report fake news to the police so that it can be stopped before it does any damage.”