Misinformation, its implications regulations

In a recent development, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has banned 16 YouTube channels and one Facebook page on the grounds of spreading ‘misinformation’.

• In the recent times, India and the world has experienced a severe issue of misinformation among the people irrespective of the domain of the information from religious mistrust to COVID medication.
• For the second time in a month, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has blocked such social media channels.
  • Of the 16 blocked YouTube channels, 10 were from India and six from Pakistan. One Facebook page was also blocked.
  • The blocked channels had a cumulative viewership of 68 crore.
  • They were promoting false information on matters related to “national security, India’s foreign relations, communal harmony in the country, and public order”.

What is ‘misinformation’?

• Any false information that may mislead the audience and the viewers of the information can be regarded as misinformation.
• This false or misinformation leads to fake news i.e. consisted of fabricated stories, without any verifiable facts, sources, or quotes. 
• Most of the time Fake news conflates three different notions:
  • Misinformation are false information, but when a person conveys it, believes that it is true and shares.
  • Disinformation is those which are shared intentionally by a person after knowing that it is true.
  • Information based on reality but imposes harm on a person, organization, or country is termed as mal-information.

• In the last few years, numbers of fake news stories have increased via social media platforms like Whats App, Facebook, YouTube, etc., because they are shared online faster than we can ever imagine. 

• Vulnerable to abuse:Social media platforms facilitate the sharing of information and enhance connectivity and civic engagement. At the same time, however, they are vulnerable to abuse by malicious actors who use the channels to spread misinformation and hateful and divisive content.
• Conflicts:Social media platforms can create conflicts as it enables the proliferation of erroneous information at an unprecedented pace.
• Lack of quick identification: The companies do not have adequate resources to quickly identify such content and remove them.
• Numerical advantage: Fake news thrives on dissemination through surplus or deficit information models. Under the surplus model, if enough users share the same information, it validates itself by a sheer numerical advantage, including when the gatekeepers of information (like journalists or politicians) validate it.
• Widespread impact:The impact of fake news is enhanced due to lack of access to correct information, limited prominence of fact-checking mediums, overwhelming nature, or the user’s inability to comprehend its consequence. 
• Higher interaction:Of all the content in these platforms, those that are extremist, fake and populist are found to often garner high “interaction” numbers.
• Targeted advertisement:The algorithms of these platforms work in such a manner that they record the user’s past interactions and fill their feed with their identified interests; this facilitates targeted advertisements, from where the platforms earn their incomes.

• Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution guarantees Freedom of Speech and Expression via any means which is one of the eminent pillar of democracy.
• Free speech and expression should be legitimate and true, to have a legitimate expression one should be aware of legitimate information which inherently speaks about Right to information as one of the major Fundamental Rights under Article 19.
• Free publication of news flows from Article 19 of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech.

• Affected public health: During COVID people were misled with several misinformation to prevent COVID which adversely affected the health of the people.
• Threat to communal harmony: Misinformation is one of the major sources to ignite any communal violence in the society.
  • Disturbed public sphere: Communal violence and communal intolerance may lead to disturbances in the public order.
  • Threatened sovereignty and integrity: Communal violence and disturbances in the idea of fraternity may give rise to a situation threating sovereignty and integrity.
  • Emergence of extremism: Rise of communal violence and disturbances in public order have the potential to re-emerge the extremist ideas which can put a severe threat to internal security.
• Serious impact on foreign relations: Misperception and misinformation against any country and illegitimate comments against any nation can impact the relation between two nations in a negative way.

To sum up, breakdown of public order, weakening of fraternity among the people and disturbances in social harmony can increase the risk of national security and terrorist activities.

• Under new IT Rule, 2021 government can ban or restrict any social media channel, page or content to stop the spread of information.
• Along with IT Rules the Disaster Management Act, district collector has the power to restrict any message or information among the public except through government sources.

• No definition:The Indian challenge to garner consensus and counter ‘hate speech’ and ‘fake news’ extends to their understanding in real/offline world. Both remain undefined under any domestic legal mandate, including the IT Act. 
• Ethical-legal gap:The difficult question concerning hate speech or fake news legislation pertains to the existing ethical-legal gap, the executive response departing from conservative understanding of online spaces and data.
• Lack of effective regulation:While disruptive technologies are evolving at a faster rate, the regulations fail to address gaps to deter unethical behaviour.
• Lack of approach to counter manipulation and hate speech:The platforms alone are not equipped to oversee the task for a remodelled approach to counter manipulation and hate speech.
• Difficulty in removal of risky content:Due to the overarching jurisdictional nature of these acts and easy multiplication, taking down content is not a silver bullet in countering hate speech and fake news.
• Lack of accountability and transparency: The lack of accountability and transparency calls for a rethinking of social media platforms’ role and structure in order to counter their misuse.
• No liability:In India, social media platforms are not liable under any rules or regulations. They function under a regulatory vacuum and are not bound by any industry regulatory standards for the functions they dispense

• Widen the scope of RTI: Government must ensure to widen up the scope for Right to Information, so that legitimate information can be accessible for the public.
• Citizen Charter: Posting and pasting of citizen charter in the public domain is one of the stepping stones that every department of the government at every tier should implement to ensure proper accessibility of information about that department of ministry.
• Public awareness: Government should promote awareness about legitimate information and misinformation with the involvement of civil society and NGOs.
• Non-politicization of Free speech: Government should maintain a certain balance between free speech and expression and misleading information and the process to reduce the instances of the misinformation should not be politicized.

Information and misinformation has a fine line difference where public awareness becomes a major factor to consume that information or not. Constitution has provided right to freedom of speech and right to information which must be ensured among the people. The scope of RTI can increase the spread of real and legitimate information and to reduce the spread of misinformation among the public. The incitements of misinformation have a very high social cost which can disturb the principles of our constitution and ideals of our nation that is sovereignty and integrity of the nation and fraternity among the people.