World is transforming and converging rapidly through available information in various digital platforms. There has been a lot more discussions and deliberations has happened in the past at media, social, political and government forums about the reliability, authenticity and validity of information shared by users in the form of User Generated Content (UGC). According to a handbook on journalism, ‘Fake News’ and disinformation released by UNESCO, describes briefly about the emerging global problem of fake contents (disinformation) that confronts societies in general and journalism in particular.

1. Social Media and Fake News (Contents): Impact and Challenges
Dr. Shirish Kashikar, PhD
Director, National Institute of Mass Communication and Journalism (NIMCJ),
Ahmedabad-380015, Gujarat, India.
Dr. Shashikant Bhagat, PhD
Faculty, National Institute of Mass Communication and Journalism (NIMCJ),
Ahmedabad – 380015, Gujarat, India.
Abstract
World is transforming and converging rapidly through available information in various
digital platforms. There has been a lot more discussions and deliberations has happened in the
past at media, social, political and government forums about the reliability, authenticity and
validity of information shared by users in the form of User Generated Content (UGC).
According to a handbook on journalism, ‘Fake News’ and disinformation released by
UNESCO, describes briefly about the emerging global problem of fake contents
(disinformation) that confronts societies in general and journalism in particular.
The information revolution has dramatically disrupted the news industry, where readers and
listeners used to rely on media organizations to distribute news and other information, now
contents are being disseminated from multiple sources (through social and digital media) too
numerous to name. While this has given us access to a wider range of information, it has
more than a few unintended consequences which societies has been suffering in many ways.
Governments, civil (especially netizens) and tech societies around the world are dealing with
this problem by cracking down on the platforms through which fake contents get spreads.
However, it is unclear that what the fake contents disseminators really trying to do. Media
gatekeepers confronting the rise of ‘fake contents’ that diminishing the news values which
ultimately mounting ethical and self-regulatory pressure and putting the challenges to the
media practitioners ‘whose sole responsibility is to bring real news, views and information in
public interest.
In this context, the aim of this research paper is to assess and verify the public
understanding on ‘Fake Contents’ which ultimately hampering the social fabric and diverging
immense popularity of “fifth estate” i.e. online (social and digital) media. This research will
be based on an Exploratory Research wherein 100 respondents were selected based on
random sampling technique through scheduled questionnaire which were used.
Keywords: Information, fake contents, fake news, disinformation, social disruptions, social
and digital media, self-regulations, ethics, fifth estates.
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*The paper is to be presented in IMPRESS-ICSSR Sponsored International Conference on
Digital Communication: A Challenges for Developing Nationals scheduled to held on 9-11
November, 2019 at MakhanlalChaturvedi National University of Journalism and
Communication, Bhopal- 462011, Madhya Pradesh, India.

2. Social Media and Fake News (Contents): Impact and Challenges*
Dr.ShirishKashikar, PhD
Director, National Institute of Mass Communication and Journalism (NIMCJ),
Ahmedabad-380015, Gujarat, India.
Dr.ShashikantBhagat, PhD
Faculty, National Institute of Mass Communication and Journalism (NIMCJ),
Ahmedabad – 380015, Gujarat, India.
Introduction
Today, media for disseminating information has been expanding manifold. In a fraction of
seconds or minutes, information is being shared to the targeted audiences through fast
internet connectivity and smart digital technology upgraded the way human interact. The
popularity of alternate media also known as social media is growing rapidly because of easy
access and instant feedback. The world is living 24x7 today because of internet and it has an
increasing importance in everyday life of people who share or exchange information, ideas,
images, videos and even more with their acquaintance. In this context, ‘Social’ refers to
interaction between people by sharing information among them, and ‘Media’ refers to a tool
of communication like newspaper, radio, TV and now digital and social media. Therefore,
social media could be referred to the communication tools used by people to interact with
each other in the virtual world. Technology has blurred the line between truth and fiction; and
with so much misinformation circulating in today’s world. According to online portal
techopedia.com, Social media is a catch-all term for a variety of internet applications that
allow users to create content and interact with each other. This interaction can take many
forms, but some common types include:
 Sharing links to interesting content produced by third parties.
 Public updates to a profile, including information on current activities and even
location data.
 Sharing photos, videos and posts
 Commenting on the photos, posts, updates, videos and links shared by others.
Merriam-Webster.com defines social media as an electronic communication (such as
websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online
communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content such as
videos. According to Michael (2012) “Social media” refers to the wide range of internet-
based and mobile services that allow users to participate in online exchange, contribute users-
generated content, or join online communities as a group. The kind of internet services
commonly associated with social media (sometimes referred to as Web 2.0”) include blogs,
wiki’s, social bookmarking, social network sites, status update services, virtualworld content
and media sharing sites.
On the other hand,“Fake news” are news articles or information that are intentionally and
verifiably false, and could mislead readers and it is considered a social phenomenon enabled
by technology to engage people to mislead themselves and others. People use the term fake
news in two ways. First, it applies to news stories and social media posts posing, false, as
genuine news items. These stories and posts are demonstrably untrue and deliberately
designed to mislead the reader or viewer. The “fake news” label is also used to cast doubt on

3. legitimate news stories, especially those that portray persons of power or celebrity in a
negative light.Why create fake news? Some people do it for money. The operate website
supported by online advertisements or sponsorships. The more visitors the websites receive;
the more money the sites earn from advertisers or sponsors. So the sites tempt readers to click
on stories about shocking crimes, medical procedures gone wrong, and other sensational
topics. Fake news is not new in these societies; but the exponential proliferation of
information that people are exposed to in the age of digital media make it a constant
challenge to filter and determine the legitimate from the fake. For instances, during the 2016
US presidential election, many fake news articles contained outrageous falsehood about the
democratic candidate, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Hoping to convince voters
that Clinton was linked to sinister deals, a site claiming to be a Denver, Colorado, news
organization ran a false article titled “FBI Agent Suspected in Hilary Email Leaks Found
Dead in Apartment Murder-Suicide”.
Statement of Problems
Lies, rumours, false allegations, bullying and other social and mental illness are not the new
phenomenon in the world. People and organization have been engaged since thousands of
years. fabricated stories posing as serious journalism are not likely to go away as they have
become a means for some writers to make money and potentially influence public opinion.
Even as Americans recognize that fake news causes confusion about current issues and
events, they continue to circulate it. A December 2016 survey by the Pew Research Center
suggests that 23 percent of U.S. adults have shared fake news, knowingly or unknowingly,
with friends and others.
News satire is often called fake news as are parodies such as the “Saturday Night Live” mock
newscast Weekend Update. Much of the fake news that flooded the internet during the 2016
election season consisted of written pieces and recorded segments promoting false
information or perpetuating conspiracy theories. Some news organizations published reports
spotlighting examples of hoaxes, fake news and misinformation on Election Day 2016.
Dependency of social media has risen many concerns over the period in India and world.
India being a multi-contextual country in terms of having complex diversity are more
engaged spreading fake news or false information to the people during election time and big
events like festivals and cultural engagements. Then, it become utmost important to
understand why misinformation spreads so quickly on private and public network through
internet operated platforms like social media? Which type of fake information elements are
responsible to push fake news without verification? And what exactly is main public and
institutions concern that people are likely to be expressing?
In the present context, the paper attempts to find out:
1. What is fake news or misinformation or fake contents in the context of India?
2. How often social media users encounter fake news? How far such newsis taken
seriously? and
3. How far such fake news creates social disruptions?

4. Brief Review of Literature
Roozenbeek J. and Linden der van Sander (2018) in their research paper The Fake News
Game: Actively Inoculating Against the Risk of Misinformation stated in conclusion that the
first to engage in a novel partnership to help develop and evaluate an entertaining multi-
player “fake news” game that can directly be evaluated in schools, workplaces, and other
educational settings to help counter and manage the societal risks posed by fake news using
non-punitive measures. In this sense, the practical innovation and potential applications of
this research are promising.
According to Waisbord Silvio (2018) in his research article Truth is What Happens to News
says the phenomenon of “fake news” is indicative of the contested position of news and the
dynamics of belief formation in contemporary societies. It is symptomatic of the collapse of
the old news order and the chaos of contemporary public communication. These
developments attest to a new chapter in the old struggle over the definition of truth—
governments waging propaganda wars, elites, and corporations vie to dominate news
coverage, and mainstream journalism’s continuous efforts to claim to provide authoritative
reportage of current events. The communication chaos makes it necessary to revisit
normative arguments about journalism and democracy as well as their feasibility in radically
new conditions. Conventional notions of news and truth that ground standard journalistic
practice are harder to achieve and maintain amid the destabilization of the past hierarchical
order.
Ravish Kumar (2019), a journalist, media personality and the Managing Editor of NDTV
recently won the Ramon Magsaysay Awards 2019 held at Manila, Philippines. In his
address, he briefly narrated by saying that “Fake news, propaganda and false history on the
other hand helps create mobs. On critical remarks of WhatsApp forwards, he said, “The
youth cannot be blamed entirely for the lack of knowledge since they had been denied
quality education and information. If media too start functioning like a WhatsApp university
peddling fake news, what would then be its consequences on the society?”. This states the
existence of Fake news and its power to destroy the blind reliability of people that they keep
on Media.
Laura Hazard Owen (2018)in her article expressed her views on the inauthentic photo-
shopped pre-election poll purportedly sponsored by the BBC, showing a big victory for the
BJPwere on rounds in media. The screenshot of this particular incident is a proof how the
fake news has spread like a wildfire. These rumours can create rift amongst the political
parties and the public associated. Various WhatsApp groups were created and members were
added for this task. The new virus of hate is spreading rapidly amongst the political parties,
religious groups and others who are absolutely unaware about the situation.
According to Barot Tushar (2019) on his article explains how misinformation is a never
ending issue that cannot be solved solely. Different platforms like Facebook and Twitter
come up with their own solutions to check the accuracy. The IFCN-certified fact checkers
work with these third party programs in different languages for the easier check of credibility
of information. This raises an awareness amongst the public effectively on how to handle the
misleading information. Foregoing brief research review indicate how serious the is the issue
of fake news in the context of India. In order to answer some of these questions, a brief study

5. was conducted in the last quarter of 2019 in Ahmedabad, India. The research design is briefly
discussed below:
The research designbasically followed a survey method and data collection was carried out
in Ahmedabad city with the help of random sampling from among 100 respondents ranging
from students to business executives.
Summary of Review of Literature:
The mentioned literature review laid the foundation of this research paper in a sense to
dependency of user generated contents on various social media. The gap has been founded
between content generation, verification and dissemination at individual and group level
among social media users.
Analysis of Data
Profile of Social Media Users
Table 1:Distribution of Respondents by Age
Age Group (in Years) Male Female Total
18-32 34 30 64
33-48 18 6 24
49-56 11 1 12
Total 63 37 100
Table 2: Distribution of Respondents by Education
Higher Secondary including Illiterate Graduation Post-Graduation M.Phil. / PhD Total
8 50 35 7 100
Tables 1-2 provide profile of the respondents according to gender, age and education. Table-1
indicated that almost two-third of the respondents are male. Exceptions a part, the
respondents were educated beyond Batchelor degree and above.
Preference of Social Media Use
Table 3: Preference of Media Use
Print TV Website Social Media Radio Total
73 0 16 3 8 100
Table 4:Distribution of Respondents by Frequency of News Access
Daily Alternate Day Weekly and Above Total
73 16 11 100

6. Table 5:Distribution of Respondents by Daily time spent on social media
<1 hour 1-2 hour 2-4 hours >4 hours Total
13 36 27 24 100
Table 6: Distribution of Respondents by Social Media Use
Fb WhatsApp Insta Twitter YouTube Blog Snapchapt Pinterest
Rank#1
Male 7 12 11 7 4 3 4 4
Female 7 10 11 1 1 0 1 2
Total 14 22 22 8 5 3 5 6
Rank#2
Male 14 12 10 3 6 2 0 2
Female 6 11 9 2 3 3 1 1
Total 20 23 19 5 9 5 1 3
Rank#3
Male 7 6 11 13 11 1 1 3
Female 10 6 5 3 5 1 2 1
Total 17 12 16 16 16 2 3 4
Rank#4
Male 12 9 8 12 7 1 1 5
Female 5 2 3 9 3 2 2 1
Total 17 11 11 21 10 3 3 6
Rank#5
Male 8 12 5 18 9 8 7 2
Female 2 5 2 3 7 7 3 11
Total 10 17 7 21 16 15 10 13
Table-3 indicates that print media continues to preferred media for getting news. Table-4
indicates that majority of them read newspapers and social media almost on daily basis
(73%). Table-5 indicates that 36% respondents spend more that 1 to 2 hours reading social
media contents including others news items. Among these readers, fewer respondents use
social media for getting information. (Table-6) in which both male and female respondents
are sharing social media information. Minor variations were observed between men and
women as per rank order.

7. Credibility of Social Media
Table 7:Social Media and its Content Trustworthiness
Rank Scale
Social Media 1 2 3 4 5 Total
Facebook 11 12 16 13 14 66
WhatsApp 10 14 12 14 16 66
Instagram 10 18 13 10 8 59
Twitter 27 6 9 10 12 64
YouTube 14 9 13 13 11 60
Blog 6 12 7 9 6 40
Snapchat 5 1 4 2 5 17
Pinterest 6 2 4 5 12 29
Analysis was carried out to understand trustworthiness of social media and its popularity
among selected social media sites(apps) namely Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter,
YouTube, Blog, Snapchat, Pinterest. They were summated to assess the importance of given
social media as indicated in Table-7. Nine social media sites were computed which indicates
that that Facebook and WhatsApp are given equal importance followed by Twitter and
Instagram and YouTube in that order.
Present Scenario of Fake News
Table 8:Forwardingof contents without checking its authenticity
Yes No Not Sure Total
Response 35 13 52 100
Table 9:Social Media User’s Disruption by User Generated Content
Yes No Total
Response 75 25 100
Table 10:Identification of Genuine or Fake Content
Yes No Not Sure Total
Response 54 10 36 100
Table 11:Uses of fact finding tool to identify content credibility
Yes No Not Sure Total
Response 76 7 17 100
Table 12:Checking sender’s contents credibility before forwarding to others
Yes No Total
Response 85 15 100

8. Table 13: Distribution of Respondents having notion damaging Indian society by spreading
fake content
Yes No Not Sure Total
Response 84 8 8 100
Table 14:Role of Cyber laws curbing fake news
Yes No Not Sure Total
Response 59 14 27 100
Table 15:Sensitization to social media users by anti-fake news advertisements or programme
Yes No Not Sure Total
Response 47 21 32 100
Table 16:Distribution of Respondents by tackling fake news
Help to Create
Awareness
Help methods of
Self-Education
Develop methods of
counter Self-Restrain
All
three
Total
Response 29 6 3 62 100
Table 17: Distribution of Respondents by Participating in anti-fake news campaign
Yes No Total
Response 94 6 100
Table 18: Opinion collected by the respondents on fake news recall
Sr. No. Respondents Response on Recall of fake news
01 2002 Gujarat H&M Issues
02 WhatsApp is going to shut down
03 Indian National Anthem declared best by UNESCO
04 Maharashtra government has banned PUBG
05 Many news during elections and about religion
06 Maxlife Policy complaint lodged on 14/10/2019
07 Rain forecast
08 Infected blood mixed with food products
09 Death of actors
10 2000 notes to be banned
11 Fake news during demonetization
12 Love Jihad in Kerala
13 Virus in WhatsApp
14 Indian National Anthem declared best by UNESCO
15 General Election Elections 2019
16 Don’t share fake news without cross checking
17 YouTube fake news and advertisements
18 Facebook Advertisements

9. 19 PM Modi's marriage
20 Fake news regarding bombs and disputes in the city
21 Instagram Video Post
22 Forward this message to 10 groups etc. to get benefits
23 My marriage
24 Shahrukh Khan's private jet crash
25 A chip is in a new 2000 rupee note
26 Syria Attack
27 Kashmir Valley by BBC network and many renowned journalist
28 Shailja Rashid on Kasmir situation
29 Fake images of Indian Air strike in Pakistan
30 Amitabh Bachchan demise
31 Earthquake in Mexico
32 Police and Army brutality in Kashmir
33 Three women brutally beaten up in Vadaj in Ahmedabad city
34 Amitabh Bacchan demise
35 Government schemes news on WhatsApp and YouTube
36 News regarding Babasaheb Ambedkar in Vadodara
37 News regarding Babasaheb Ambedkar in Vadodara
38 Fake information about Rafael Deal
39
Nagpur Metro Railway project given to Chinese Co. instead of
Indian.
40 Death of Late Smt. SushmaSwaraj and Late Shri ArunJaitely
41 End of Earth in 2020
Eleven questions including one open ended question were asked from the respondents
relating to various aspects of fake news. In response to open ended question pertaining to
respondents’ experiences of fake news, less than 40% respondents gave any answer to the
question. Thereby indicating their scanty response to the question. Thereby indicating their
lack of experience on fake news. Even among those who responded, they were largely
monosyllables answer or non-committal. Thereby indicating that fake news still not an
important area of discussion. As indicated in Table-8, very few (13%) respondents did not
check the authenticity of the fake news. Hence, such information did not disturb more than
25% of the respondents Table-9 and only 10% thought that the authenticity of the news
should be checked as indicated in Table-10. It is further supported by Table-11 & 12 were
very few respondents used any tool to check the fake news.
It is not surprising to note that very few respondents think fake content could be serious to
the Indian society. It is further supported in the responses provided in Table 14 (14%) and
Table 15 (21%). It is not surprising to note that large majority of respondents have not
thought of any measures to be taken to curb menace of fake news (see Tables-15 and 16)or
considered to participate in anit-fake news campaign.

10. Key Findings:
1. In overall responses in the research it is observed that male respondents have participated more
compare to female. It can be assumed that females are not fully aware about the characteristics of
fake news.
2. To spread fake news, Facebook and WhatsApp are favourite social media tools for the users.
Because of popularity and frequent use of these two tools, it is admitted that fake news is being
spreaded more and more by the users.
3. Cyber security, creating awareness on fake news through social campaign are the need of the hour.
Concluding Observations
In conclusion, it would not be wrong to say that seriousness of fake news has very limited
focus among the respondents. In recent past, many independent media organizations, social
media sites and government have shown serious interest to find out the perfect mechanism to
stop fake news. Government have tried to control in limited ways, but, consistent efforts by
media institutions can help creating awareness on various forms of fake news, so that
audience can become more alert.
References:
1. Roonzenbeek Jon and Linden der van Sander (2018), The Fake News Game: Actively
Inoculating Against the Risk of Misinformation, Journal of Risk Research, University of
Cambridge Press.
2. Waisbord Silvio (2018) Truth is What Happens to News,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/1461670X.2018.1492881?scroll=top&nee
dAccess=true dated 07/10/2019 17:24 hrs IST.
3. Ravish Kumar (2019), “Not All Battles Fought for Victory”: NDTV's Ravish On
Magsaysay Award, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btGX0bL5XY4 dated 17/10/2019
13:19 hrs IST.
4. Laura Hazard Owen (2018) Fake news and religious hatred on WhatsApp in Karnataka
elections”: The Hoothttp://asu.thehoot.org/media-watch/digital-media/fake-news-and-
religious-hatred-on-whatsapp-in-karnataka-elections-10641dated 17/10/2019 15:03 hrs IST.
5. Barot Tushar (2019), How India’s Factly is Using Technology to Fight
Misinformationhttps://facebookjournalismproject.com/article/how-indias-factly-is-using-
technology-to-fight-misinformation/?fbclid=IwAR1GKzRzF5ToaqGoMrFZUdaJp-
uwrq2DH5diWbcqHWecq_duu3xM0taP7-w dated 17/10/19 15:31 hrs IST.
6. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4837/social-media dated 04/10/2019 11:25 hrs
7. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media dated 04/10/2019 11:30 hrs
8. Michael, D. (2012). Social media: An introduction in brief: social affairs division
parliamentary information research service: library of parliament.
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