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Fake news spread instantaneously over WhatsApp chat groups and Facebook is causing a firestorm in India and resulting in the loss of lives, warns the BBC in a new investigative report from Bengaluru.
The BBC is set to highlight the issue in a report to be aired on BBC World News on Tuesday centred around the death of Kaluram Bachanram, who was beaten to death by a mob in Bengaluru after WhastApp rumours convinced people that he was a child kidnapper.
“Kalu became a victim of India’s fake news fire storm Across India eight lives have been lost in this latest wave of fallacy defeating fact.
The BBC has been working to combat the issue of fake news through initiatives such as “BBC Reality Check”, a political discourse fact-checking service. It was launched during the European Union (EU) referendum in 2016 for both TV and online and has now been made permanent and covers a wide range of issues.
“Fake news is a big problem and it’s vital for democracy that ordinary people are able to tell truth from fiction in the news they read, watch, and hear,” said Jim Egan, CEO, BBC Global News Ltd.
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