Concerns over fake information hurting political achievements

Kathmandu, Feb 24: Stakeholders expressed their concerns that political achievements were being continuously attacked through fake information lately.     

At an interaction program organized by the Centre for Media Research Nepal here today on 'Disinformation in Nepal and Democracy', they said that based on the fake information attempts were being made to establish a wrong narrative in social media.     

Former Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel, presenting a paper on the 'Role of political parties in control of disinformation', stated that democracy and democratic leadership was continuously being attacked through fake information.     

Stating that political parties had an important role in controlling disinformation, he suggested that political parties to enhance the digital knowledge of the leaders and cadres. He also emphasized the issuance of a code of conduct for social media and the use of social media in compliance of the code of conduct.     

The former Chief Election Commissioner alerted towards the possibility of some forces trying to capitalize on the despair of the people and the situation where the major pillars of the democracy were weak by instigating people and launching an attack on democracy.     

According to him, some forces were also attempting to establish a narrative that democracy cannot deliver result.     

Drawing the attention of the political parties, he urged them to rise above their partisan interest and deliver in the interest of the country.     

Similarly, Nepali Congress leader Gagan Kumar Thapa suggested that one should rely on fake news doing the rounds in social media and spoke of the need to build awareness about the sensitivity of fake news at the school level.     

He argued that school, community and families should be more responsible regarding what kind of information to accept and what to boycott.     

Likewise, CPN (UML) Vice-Chairperson Bishnu Poudel observed that social media should aid in the development of democracy and underlined the need for close cooperation among the stakeholders for the same. "Fake information has created many problems. We all should be ready to tackle the challenges brought by social networking sites."     

CPN (Maoist Centre) Vice-Chairperson Agni Prasad Sapkota said that political parties, media, and social activists have an important role in stopping the spread of fake information. "The whole society should stand united against fake information. If we do not control it on time, democracy may slip through our hands."     

Parliamentarians representing various political parties univocally admitted that the fake information had adversely affected the entire society and thus said that we all should be united against it. (RSS)