About Us Contributors Let's Talk Subscribe Sitemap
Qrius
  • Economy
  • Culture & Society
  • Politics
  • Science & Tech
  • Content Services
  • Economy
  • Culture & Society
  • Politics
  • Science & Tech
  • Content Services
15 Jun, 18
15 Jun, 18
fake news

Explainer: State police forces join WhatsApp to combat the spread of fake news and lynching incidents

There has been an alarming rise in mob violence and incidents of lynching based on such messages in the recent weeks, as law enforcement officials wrack their heads over curbing this menace.

By Prarthana Mitra

Activists in Guwahati stage a protest against the killing of two Assamese youth due to lynching. Credit: Twitter/@thehindu

By Prarthana Mitra

Police forces across the country are devising social media campaigns to combat the rising incidence of violence in the last few months, following the circulation of fake messages over social media, including WhatsApp. As a result of rumours spread by users of the Facebook-owned messaging app, law enforcement authorities across several states have planned to use the same platform, to crack down harder on the perpetrators.

Here’s what happened

There has been an alarming rise in mob violence and incidents of lynching based on such messages in the recent weeks.  Last month, Qrius reported on a Hyderabad constable who rescued a couple of crossdressers from being lynched by a furious mob. The vigilante justice-serving locals had allegedly been instigated by certain WhatsApp broadcasts warning people about suspected kidnappers being on the prowl in the city.

Last month, a mob lynched a man in a Bengaluru locality suspecting him to be a child abductor, preceded by widely circulated videos on WhatsApp. Karnataka police have arrested 25 people including four women and a minor in connection with the case so far.

Fake news and videos about child abductors distributed on WhatsApp have also caused alarm among villagers across Assam, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, culminating in reported lynchings. In Assam, this led to over a dozen arrests, after a mob lynched two people last week, suspecting them to be child kidnappers.

As an antidote to propagandist messages, fake news and inflammatory broadcasts over social media and messaging apps, the state police across Karnataka, Assam, Telangana and Kerala are now engaged in designing social media campaigns, following claims that these platforms have been used to incite violence against fringe and minority communities.

Roadmap for the campaign

Bengaluru police commissioner T Suneel Kumar spoke to the Economic Times, saying that the department is engaged in creating awareness distributing relevant pamphlets around the city and with hashtags like #FakeRumourOnChildKidnappers on social media.
“We have not written to either Facebook or WhatsApp as they would take their own time to respond. Instead, we have alerted our police personnel to be aware of repetition and are reaching out to people through different means,” he said.
In Telangana and Assam, special police teams have been formed to monitor social media and to track fake messages and prepare a counter-response.  “We have given them (people) directions to start counter propaganda immediately, and we are assisting them in dispelling the rumour. We try to identify the administrator of the (WhatsApp) group that is used to spread rumours,” said an officer from Kerala’s crime division.

 


Prarthana Mitra is a staff writer at Qrius.


Stay updated with all the insights.
Navigate news, 1 email day.
Subscribe to Qrius

what is qrius

Broaden your horizons as unpack fresh trends shaping our lives. Qrius delivers fresh, immersive writing that answers the question 'Why should I care?'

daily updates in your inbox

Start your mornings with the acclaimed 'Qrius Mornings' newsletter that gives you our best article of the day right in your inbox.

Featured articles

1

Rumination In The Time of Isolation
2

It’s Not Easy Being Handsome
3

Ain’t No Sunshine When He’s Gone
4

How Empaths Become The Narcissists’ Narcissists
5

Rich, Please: How The Pleas Of India’s Wealthy Seem ‘Fake’ To The Masses
6

A Letter ‘From’ The Editor
7

Anglo-Indians: Are They Fading into the History of India?
8

Music

Indian Music…and all that Jazz
9

150th Birth Anniversary

How America Embraced the Mahatma
10

Conservation

The Man They Call India’s Seed Warrior
About Us Contributors Let's Talk Subscribe Sitemap
2018 QRIUS. All Rights Reserved