Digital Empowerment Foundation discusses about Fighting fake news

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Osama Manzar, Founder Director Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), discussing about the effects of 'Fake News' talked about how the use of internet and media tools have been spreading and the different motives of different users, who are applying it for various purposes.

"Many people are unable to detect fake news and apprehend the effects that it creates. Ultimately society is getting affected and we (DEF), together with WhatsApp and other media platforms are organizing workshops worldwide to educate the people", said Osama.

"There are two kinds of media- FB and Twitter, etc are public media while Messenger and Whatsapp, and others are private media. What we share on public media can be viewed by many people and we can figure out the culprit behind creating rumours. However, private media remains undetected and that is why it is very necessary to educate the masses", Osama commented.

In this regard, a workshop on 'Fighting Fake News' was organized by Assam Police in association with New Delhi-based non-government organization(NGO) Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) at Guwahati on 8 January 2019.

The workshop was attended by Assam Police's SMART Social Media Cell, led by Additional Director General of Police, (IPS) Harmeet Singh and New Delhi-based non-government organization (NGO) Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), led by Osama Manzar, Founder & Director, Programme Manager, Ravi Guria, WhatsApp, Pragya Misra Mehrishi, South East Asia Correspondent, LA Times, Shashank Bengali, police personnel from across the state and students.

Harmeet Singh, who's the architect of Assam Police's incredible SM campaign spreading awareness about Fake News; addressing the workshop, stated that the State Police, in the past couple of months and especially since 9 June 2018, has successfully thwarted and countered every attempt of destabilizing peace and public order in the state. After the launch of the cell, they received 2000 inputs in a single day and were finally successful in nabbing the main culprits of spreading of fake news, leading to the deaths of Abhijeet and Neil in Karbi Anglong.

The three hour long workshop facilitated by Ravi Guria, DEF focused on difference between fact, opinion, rumor and fake; understanding the "other" perspective; learning techniques to verify information; and leveraging WhatsApp's features for restricting unwanted communication. The workshop addressed over 200 participants from diverse backgrounds comprised of- police, media, students, local administration, teachers etc.

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