Fake News and Cyber Propaganda; Security threats in Cyber Space (original) (raw)

Spreading Fake News in the Virtual Realm in Bangladesh: Assessment of Impact

Global Journal of Human-Social Science, 2020

Fake news is ‘false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.’ The upsurge of technological advancement, especially social media, has paved the way for spreading fake news. The virtual realm spurs fake news as per the speed of air. Nowadays, fake news has been one of the social problems in the world along with Bangladesh. Self-seeker groups use fake news as an ‘atomic arsenal’ to disseminate their popular rhetoric with supersonic speed for fulfilling male purposes. Fake news is usually rampant during any crisis, elections, and even in campaigns. The hoaxers and fakers exploit the opportunity of the wavering psychology of the social media users, and fake news becomes ‘viral’ on social media, Facebook. Recently Bangladesh has faced an acute crisis of spreading fake news during the ‘Movement of Nirapod Sarak Chai, ‘National election in December 2018’ and very recent ‘need child’s head for Padma Bridge.’ This study titled “Spreading Fake News in the...

Digital Disinformation and Communalism in Bangladesh

China Media Research, 2019

Traditional society of Bangladesh has been enduring explicit transformation. Individuals’ increasing income, flourishing consumer culture, and security in social life as a cumulative force smooths the scope of modern global amenities to come in and grow up amid this changing society. Of them, new age digital communication is vital one. Digital media is encompassing people’s everyday life. Process of acquiring information has also changed remarkably: instead of searching to get one, people now struggle to look for reliable information due to ample information. Cyberspace becomes the cornucopia of fluid information that often baffles the surfers by providing distorted information. Bangladesh has been experiencing digital media-initiated disinformation from the beginning of 2010s. Interest groups are playing with digital disinformation conjoining religious sentiment. As a result, incidents of assault on religious minorities based on digital (dis)information have become frequent. Considering the importance of digital disinformation instigating communalism in Bangladesh, this study explores the nature of contemporary digital communalism and violence on religious minorities. It has been seen that beyond mere religious sentimentalism and sensationalism, historical and political along with several other factors significantly contribute to these atrocities.

Strategies in Countering Hoax and Hate Speech in Indonesia

Sociological Jurisprudence Journal, 2021

Hoax and Hate Speech are cyber-crimes that are closely related to ideological, political and religious issues. In Indonesia, just before the 2019 Presidential Election, this crime is very common, mainly used to attack political opponents. In this study, we provide several samples of Hoax and Hate Speech crimes, namely those with ideological, political and religious nuances. We consider these three crime samples to be sufficient to illustrate that Hoax and Hate Speech greatly influence the stability of domestic security. Based on the results of research conducted at the Directorate of Cyber Crime Enforcement of the Indonesian Police Criminal Investigation Agency, we can conclude that the strategic steps that must be taken to tackle Hoax and Hate Speech are Preventive Efforts in the form of Cyber Patrol, Hoax labeling, analyzing media opinion trends, dissemination positive news through text media, clarification and public information, security carried out by cover names, cover jobs, a...

BOOK CHAPTER │ Cybersmearing Countering Fake News, Hate Speech and Cybersmearing

SMART-IEEE-ACity-ICTU Foundations Series, 2022

The internet revolution points to the unfolding and leverage of social media have always been viewed as a turning point in free speech and communication and represent the freedom of all people to speech and information. The free flow of information and the rise of hate speech, fake news, and cybersmearing on the Internet have no doubt increased social divergence. In tackling the menace of fake news, hate speech and cybersmearing in Nigeria, the government is addressing these challenges largely through existing penal legislation such as Nigeria Criminal Code Act 1990, Penal Code Act 1990, Electoral Act 2010, Evidence Act 2011 and Cybercrime Act 2015. Globally, these problems are viewed seriously and are one that must be tackled by all stakeholders.

Sociological perspectives of social media, rumors, and attacks on minorities: Evidence from Bangladesh

Frontiers in Sociology, 2023

Social media platforms serve as essential modes of communication for billions of people around the world. They host a diverse range of content-from the personal and social to the political serving as an important channel for connecting people for spreading ideas. However, given their widespread penetration into everyday social and political life, they have become a tool for spreading rumors and disinformation that may often misrepresent or distort reality and have in many cases incited violence. In Bangladesh, perpetrators over the last decade have utilized social media platforms to spread rumors and to mobilize mobs to launch violent attacks on minority groups. Drawing from social movement theories on how the nexus between social media and political violence works, this paper examines a sample of five cases during the periods of-. We exemplify minority attacks being instigated by social media rumors to understand their nature and causes thereof. The study finds that religious extremism, the absence of legal safeguards, and the culture of impunity are the primary triggers, to a varying degree, for the social media rumor-instigated attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.

The role of fake news in fueling hate speech and extremism online; Promoting adequate measures for tackling the phenomenon

2021

The current submission will explore those matters further, first by providing a comprehensive definition of the term ‘Fake News’. It will examine the role of disinformation campaigns in the fuelling of hate speech and sectarianist sentiments online and then evaluate to what extend that increases the radicalized views of certain individuals and could subsequently lead to extremist violence. It will use as case study the results of EFSAS' research in the region of Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir where questionnaires were distributed among 139 young people, assessing their capacity of identifying hate speech online and their levels of social media critical thinking. The Paper will conclude with a list of recommendations on possible interventions for tackling the phenomenon.

Fanaticism, Hate Speech, Fake News, and the Rise of Social Media Violence in Contemporary Societies

1st Multi-Disciplinary International conference organized by Maryam Abacha American University of Niger, Maradi, 2021

Social media platforms promote the sharing of information and enhance connectivity and civic commitment. At the same time, though, they are vulnerable to abuse by spiteful actors who use the channels to spread misinformation and hateful and divisive stands with the welfare of citizens, while safeguarding the right to free speech. The main aim of this study is to look at how Fanaticism, Hate Speech, and Fake News, cause Social Media Violence in Contemporary Societies. Specifically, the study seeks to determines the extent to which fanaticism, hate speech, and fake news can lead to the rise of social media violence in contemporary societies, assess how effective are social media platforms in combating fanaticism, hate speech, fake news and the rise of social media violence in contemporary societies, and find out the challenges affecting the usage of social media platforms in relations to fanaticism, hate speech, fake news and the rise of social media violence in contemporary societies. This paper explored the regulatory challenges faced by these stands, and their responses. It also examined the utilization of social media platforms (particularly Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram etc.) by political actors, contemporary media, and ordinary people to disseminate false or deceptive information. Furthermore, it examines how social media have aided in the mobilization of previously disliked revolutionary social/political movements in Comparative Societies. The paper provides a rich historical account of news media and its spreading technology. Utilizing news media and archival records to create event catalogs, this research illustrates how fake news spreads through social media using concepts and theories. Finally, this paper shows how several virtual “imagined communities” utilized social media. To this end, this study examines the effectiveness of social media on the rise of hate speech, fake news, fanaticism and resultant violence in contemporary societies. Therefore, it is recommended that the content of social media messaging should be designed in a way that will be very effective in influencing people to disengage from fanaticism, hate speech, and fake news. The study posits that concerted measures should be introduced to curb misuse of social media. Sketching lessons from a comparative analysis of global best practices, the paper recommended an overhaul of Comparative Societies current regulatory framework in order to curb hate speech and fake news in social media within our societies.

Role of Social Media in Spreading Violent Extremism in Bangladesh

Criminology eJournal, 2021

"Violent Extremism", a word that can quiver a whole country or society entirely and affect in its foundation so much that its socioeconomic system can be broken down entirely. Bangladesh is also at high risk situation as there are some religious extremist groups active around our motherland to spread hate speech and misinterpretation of divine religion so that there could be chaos and terrorist acts to break the social order. The purpose of this study was to find out how social media is being used for spreading violent extremism ideologies in Bangladesh. The authors mainly collected the data from newspapers, books, articles, journals, reports of DMP and other social organisations. As such, this paper is an in-depth study of the relationship between social media and spreading of violent extremism and it aims to assess the precedential effect of social media in spreading violent extremism. The authors have found that the national and international extremist groups are using social media sites to express their propaganda, misinterpretations of divine messages and hate speeches to the mass majority who use those sites so that people can be misguided and fulfil the objectives of those groups.

Cyberhate: the globalization of hate

Information & Communications Technology Law, 2009

Social media has arguably brought one of the greatest changes to Internet communication since the invention of the Web but challenges as well. Apart from helping people to have access and to exchange information, social media has also been used to spread misinformation, hate speech, and the user-generated data is adopted for targeted commercial and political advertising based on personal profiles. Moreover, the most popular applications available are owned by a small number of companies who may have an undue influence on how civic engagement takes place on their platforms. In this panel, four panelists will discuss the following: misinformation and the role of pseudo-cognitive authorities; hate speech and Germany's Network Enforcement Act (NetzGD); civic engagement and market capture by social media companies; and finally, personal data processing and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We intend to raise interesting questions helping to understand these issues, and to find solutions for the beneficial use of information technologies as well as to scope out all its advantages.

Countering violent extremism using social media and preventing implementable strategies for Bangladesh

2021

Globally, more than 85% of youth use social media daily in the medium of Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc., which is more than 70% for Bangladesh. The young population of Bangladesh is rapidly embracing social media through the internet and afflicted with the malaise of countering violent extremism (CVE), often through Facebook. Given the increasing connectedness that the internet and social media offer, it is crucial that the fight against CVE shift to the digital space. Extremists are increasingly adopting novel ways and means based on technology to draw unsuspecting youth to their cause. It is essential to establish effective implementable strategies to stop the CVE activities using social media in Bangladesh. This study aims to identify existing initiatives globally in the space of disruptive online technologies that have yielded some success in preventing CVE. Various publications such as journal and news articles, TV news, and blogs have been used as data sources for this study. Also, fifteen expert interviews have been conducted to identify the most effective strategies for CVE in Bangladesh. Through the content analysis, the study highlights successful efforts and explores technology-based initiatives that can be deployed in Bangladesh to minimize the impact of VE activities through online technology. Finally, recommendations for strategies to restrict VE activities through technologies have been suggested that can be potentially implemented by the Bangladesh government by coordinating with international donor agencies and CVE practitioners. The research output recommends that Bangladesh and other less developed countries can concurrently deal with CVE by successfully using cutting-edge online/digital technologies.