News
Towards policy and regulatory approaches for combating misinformation in India
This is the third installment of a new white paper series on alternative regulatory responses to misinformation. The articles, which were produced with the editing and support of the WIII Initiative, will be presented at a series of events on March 8, 10, and 12th. You can find more information, and registration details for our launch events, here. I. Introduction Misinformation and hate speech on WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook have been contributing to violence and social unrest in India. [1] Currently, the government and users rely on private platforms to address the misinformation
Moderate Globally Impact Locally: Tackling Social Media’s Hate Speech Problem in India
On 11th August 2020, an offensive Facebook post about Prophet Muhammad played a significant role in inciting violent clashes in Bengaluru in India, the worst that the city has seen in recent history. Unfortunately, this incident is not an isolated one. Hate speech and misinformation propagated through platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp has resulted in mob violence, lynching, communal riots, and claimed many innocent lives in India. Facebook has come under particular scrutiny recently. An article published in the Wall Street Journal has alleged that Facebook India’s Public Policy