Fact Check: Once Again

Who knew that fact-checkers would exist the biggest peddlers of faux news? Who knew that such imitation news peddled past fact-checkers would exist the proverbial straw that broke the Twitter camel'southward back? That "fact-checking" is prone to being heavily manipulated based on the chosen timelines and interpretation is well-known. After all, the partisanship of "fact-checking" was breathy for quite some time. However, the social capital congenital past these organisations gave them an unprecedented bully pulpit—where they would effectively blackmail their fashion to both brownie and funding—bypassing editorial discretion and blurring conflicts of interest.

As of quondam last night, Twitter is the first and only company to have lost the intermediary protections in India'south history. It comes close on the heels of a sickening incident in Ghaziabad where a poor old homo was viciously assaulted by a group of hooligans, his beard shaved off and slapped around. For an amateur to tweet the video was however understandable. But the lack of accompanying audio should accept raised several cerise flags for any "fact-checker" worth their salt. Yet, it was tweeted out, implying in no uncertain terms that this was a communal attack.

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A few hours afterwards some other video emerged of the poor man, in a completely unlike setting in the visitor of a religious leader, maxim that the hooligans had forced him to chant "Jai Sri Ram" and this was used to conclusively settle the communal nature of the incident. Again, this too should have raised red flags and led dorsum to the question of why did the original video lack audio. Yet given the "credibility" that fact-checkers enjoy, and their demonstrable abuse of extortive powers, the estimation of the "fact-checker" was deemed unquestionable and several news outlets and Twitterati ran with the story.

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A mere hours' worth of investigation by the Upwards Police revealed that in fact the vast majority of those who had perpetrated the crime were Muslim and the audio had been deliberately removed in order to plow the video into a flashpoint for communal rioting. Despite overwhelming evidence that the story as presented on Twitter was false, Twitter not but failed to mark the tweets equally misleading and take preventive action in face of an explosive communal situation, as they had during the January 26 riots, Twitter chose non to act. As the case evolves, there are three bug to be considered: culpability of the parties involved, the continuing defiance of Twitter to Indian police and its deliberate mischief in stoking civil strife, and the cartelised blackmail model into which "fact-checking" has evolved.

First up, we need to differentiate reporting from fact checking. The job of news outlets is to study events as they happen, and the chore of Twitterati is to outrage. Mistakes frequently happen here as the period of events is then rapid. That is why the naming of politicians, journalists and news-outlets in the FIR filed by the Upwardly Law is a very slippery gradient and mixes up the existent misdeed here—that of the fact-checker, whose only job is to ascertain the facts. So, how does criminality extend from the bodily peddler of fake news to the dissemination platform?

Much of it has to do with Twitter's antecedents and opaque, possibly improper business tie-ups in Bharat. Twitter's messianic self-epitome, its role in unseating government and stoking political violence in the past (Egypt, Syria, Tunisia) and its blatant politics—evidenced past the ban on President Trump—are not in incertitude.

Moreover, its ongoing refusal to comply with Indian police force, denying information to an ongoing investigation and seeking colonial-mode extraterritoriality for its actions only fabricated its intent very clear. Its necktie-up with the said "fact-checking" agency is particularly curious because information technology violates several corporate standards and reeks of nepotism.

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For a beginning, the "fact-checking" partner has not had their International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) membership renewed since 2019—and therefore did not comply with international "fact-checking" "standards"—a critical component in absolving Twitter (the platform) of responsibility for the accurateness of the "fact-check". The basis of the hiring and compensation given remain unknown, and place the blame squarely on Twitter for failing due diligence.

Notwithstanding, the nigh worrying aspect has been IFCN'due south own lax standards at enacting checks and balances while fact-checking has substantially turned into a front end for bribery and extortion. The severe subjectivity of fact-checking lends itself to blatant abuse without checks and balances of any kind, and in governance-arrears countries similar India, this is a model that is spring to be exploited. No surprise then that the commercialisation of fact-checking in India has been cornered, not because of brownie or accreditation, merely by and large because of delegitimisation of other fact-checkers and "fact-checking" specifically targeted at outlets that do not hire or share business with specific "fact-checking" agencies.

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This is no joke. The COVID-19 pandemic reached its ballsy proportions, precisely because of such unchecked conflict of interests and self-referential hiring past global health organisations, NGOs, academia and journals who were promoted based not on ability but on cronyism, effectively shutting out all dissent. Today, information technology is critical we do not throw the baby out with the bathwater, because in the information age, combating of misinformation is critical. But, every bit the latest fracas with Twitter and the "fact-checker" show, nepotism and cronyism volition irreparably impairment a disquisitional service, exactly when information technology is virtually required. What is needed is transparency, clear guidelines, and the merciless crushing of personal agendas peddled as "facts".

Disclaimer:Abhijit Iyer-Mitra is Senior Boyfriend at the Plant of Peace and Conflict Studies. Views expressed are personal.

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Fact Check: Once Again

Severe subjectivity of fact-checking lends itself to blatant abuse without checks and balances of whatsoever kind. In governance-deficit countries similar India, it is bound to be exploited.

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