India encounters fake news the most globally: Microsoft

With the fake news phenomenon affecting countries with upcoming elections, it comes as no surprise that India has the highest numbers in terms of the spread of fake news.

According to a report by Microsoft's Digital Civility Index, 64 per cent of Indians surveyed have encountered fake news compared to the global average of 57 per cent.

There also has been a sharp 9 percentage points increase in family and friends spreading online risks to 29 per cent.



"Social circles became riskier in India," the survey said which covered 22 countries.

Such hoaxes can have dangerous consequences after over 40 people were killed in India last year due to rumours spread across WhatsApp.

The term “fake news” went mainstream during the 2016 US presidential campaign when hundreds of websites and social media accounts published false or biased stories.

Facebook, later on, announced that it is working to fight the spread of false news on its platform through a combination of technology and human review.

Fake accounts can be major distributors of harmful and misleading content, and Facebook claims to have removed nearly six million such accounts globally in the first quarter of 2018.

People aged 65 and above are more likely to share fake news in the US according to the findings of a study conducted by Princeton and New York University.



Meanwhile,  research carried out by BBC shows that a rising tide of nationalism in India is driving ordinary citizens to spread fake news.

The research found that facts were less important to some than the emotional desire to bolster national identity.

Social media analysis shows that right-wing networks are much more calibrated than on the left which had pushed nationalistic fake stories even more.

There was also an overlap of fake news sources on Twitter and support networks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.