Shopian police conducts seminar on ‘fake news’

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 4: A seminar on ‘fake news’ was conducted today by Sandeep Chaudhary, SSP Shopian, at District Police Headquarters.
A large number of media persons and police officers attended the seminar. The SSP was of the opinion that we use words like hoax, misinformation and untruth, but the deceptively simple ‘fake news’ describes one of the most common modern causes of disruption of peace and harmony in society.
“The jump in circulation and prevalence of fake news makes it absolutely critical to make people aware of the impact of fake news. Fake news is mostly spread on social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter”, the officer said.
The SSP added that the fake news becomes much more dangerous in a volatile society. “One wrong information or rumour might incite people to indulge in violence. The biggest tragedy of the fake news is that people don’t even realize that they are being exploited by someone else to serve their own interests”, he further added.
The young IPS officer requested the people to keep the safety and security of their families in mind while treating any fake news as real. He suggested many rules for any common man or woman to verify the fake news. The officer said that fake news spreads like wildfire and can be detrimental to the maintenance of law and order in society.
“The only way to deal with fake news is awareness among people. Media can play a vital role in countering fake news. because fake news undermines the legitimacy of traditional hard working media persons also who work day and night to gather true facts and bring them to people. Police and media can work in tandem to deal with menace of fake news in our modern networked societies”, the officer said.

Follow our WhatsApp channel