May 27, 2024
DHAKA – In an age where information is created, churned and consumed at lightning speed, the rise of disinformation, misinformation and fake news has been disconcerting. And with the world still struggling to come up with a proper legal framework to deal with the complexities of these issues, people are finding it harder to trust the information available to them.
Here’s a look at some recent glaring instances that have caused confusion between neighbours and havoc during regional elections.
Representative illustration of fake news being peddled. PHOTO: PIXABAY
The Johor casino fiasco
In October 2023, Singapore and Malaysian authorities officially announced the development of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, an integrated commercial and investment hub that would allow easier movement of goods and people across the border between the two countries.
But a report by Bloomberg in April suggesting that Malaysia was planning a second casino came as a surprise and led to much discussion before it was refuted by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim himself.
The Bloomberg report said that the Malaysian PM had met with leaders from Berjaya Corporation and Genting Group to develop Malaysia’s second casino. King Ibrahim Iskandar was also represented, people told Bloomberg, the report said.
However, on April 25, PM Anwar denied the rumours and denounced the report as “not true, it is a lie”, according to The Straits Times. He even slammed the culprits later, saying they should be put behind bars.
Since then, Malaysian political activist, Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegubard, claimed trial to two charges of criminal defamation and sedition at the cybercrime Sessions Court on April 29 since he had allegedly posted comments on Facebook claiming there was a plan to build a casino in Forest City to revive the township. Bloomberg journalist, Ram Anand, has also been called for investigation by the Bukit Aman police for sedition, criminal defamation and the misuse of network facilities.
Representative illustration of fake news being peddled. PHOTO: PIXABAY
Trolls take a jab at the West Philippine Sea issue in the Philippines
In recent times, the Philippines has been fighting the spread of misinformation and fake news surrounding the issue of the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Pranksters online have been spreading fake news including fake reports against Philippine officials involved in the campaign to protect the WPS, according to a report by Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The report mentions that the news stories included a supposed Philippine exposé claiming China’s illegal actions in the WPS would lead to war. Another fake news piece alleged that China’s ‘aggression’ is a result of Philippines’ deepening security activities with the United States, while a third said that Philippines’ actions are dictated by the US, the report added.
While most of the attacks were made by Filipinos, some of the attacks were traced back to China as well, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer report. According to officials, the motivation behind such actions was probably financial gain. These fake articles are, however, deemed alarming since many people, especially in more remote areas often tend to believe such news.
In order to combat the prevalence of such news, the Philippine government has been striving to maintain transparency with the people in regards to what is happening in the WPS and how the international community responds to the issues.
The spree of disinformation during Bangladesh Elections 2024
With the world still struggling to fully grasp the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI), in Bangladesh, it has been especially difficult to keep track of the tools available to people with the intent to spread misinformation and even disinformation.
One report that caught the attention of people here was the allegation insinuating that pro-government entities have been involved in the spread of disinformation, seemingly for political gains.
An investigative report published by the London-based Financial Times, found that entities aligned with the government had been using AI tools from various start-ups to create deep-fake videos and fabricated news segments, to influence public opinion.
This included the use of HeyGen, a Los Angeles-based AI video generator company, to fabricate content that falsely accuses the United states diplomats of meddling in Bangladesh’s election to incite political unrest. Other examples include creating falsified deep-fake videos of opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP) leader Tareque Zia and other videos targeting other members of the party as well.
“In one purported news clip, an AI-generated anchor lambasts the US, a country that Sheikh Hasina’s government has criticised ahead of the polls,” notes the report.
“A separate deepfake video, which has since been removed, showed an opposition leader equivocating over support for Gazans, a potentially ruinous position in the Muslim-majority country with strong public sympathy for Palestinians,” it states.
Since the report by the Financial Times was published, Meta platforms have removed certain videos.
While the spread of disinformation is a major threat to the country’s democracy, the use of AI to manipulate public opinion is emblematic of a bigger global concern.
The Amit Shah fake video case
Recently, a video of Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs of India, made rounds on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), where he reportedly spoke of abolishing the Other Backward Class (OBC) Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) after winning the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
The Jharkand Congress also shared the fake video with a caption that read, “Amit Shah’s election speech went viral in which he said that if the BJP government is formed again, OBC and SC/ST reservation will be abolished,” through its account (@INCJharkand).
It was later found that the video was created from excerpts of a speech by Shah at Vijaya Sankalp Sabha (Victory Resolution Meeting) in Telangana, a part of a cluster of simultaneous pre-election tours around India by the leading Bharatiya Janata Party, where he spoke of ending the four per cent reservation given to Muslims in Telangana.
Since the video went viral, the Ministry of Home Affairs notified the Delhi Police, following which a case was registered and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was summoned for questioning since he shared the viral video with a misleading claim.
According to a report by the Statesman, X has since withheld the account in response to a legal demand.