Fake news: Companies say top bosses may quit over persecution fears

The blow-hot-blow-cold relationship between the government and social media and technology-backed firms seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Some companies now fear exits of their India heads and senior management if the government goes ahead with its plans to carry out criminal proceedings against top bosses over spread of fake news via their platforms.

Apart from global technology giants Google and Facebook (which together have four to five social media platforms), Twitter, LinkedIn, smaller social media portals and payments apps with chat capabilities are planning to approach the government on putting back its plans of booking their top bosses.

While it has not been decided if they would form a common front, the public policy teams in these firms are getting ready for a long discussion with the government. “We are constantly in touch with government officials. We want them to know that we are taking steps to prevent spreading of fake news and such drastic actions are unnecessary,” said a senior public policy executive at one of the tech firms.

Govt snubs WhatsApp's no, wants it to trace origin of fake news messages

It’s back to square one on the WhatsApp issue.

In a statement on Thursday, the California-based messaging platform said: “Requiring traceability would undermine end-to-end encryption and the private nature of WhatsApp, creating the potential for serious misuse.” The firm would not weaken its privacy protections as people rely on WhatsApp for sensitive conversations, including with their doctors and banks, spokesperson Carl Woog said.

Reacting, the government reiterated the company should step up its act in tracing the origin of fake texts — a subject of dispute between the two sides for long. “WhatsApp should give a more firm assurance of compliance with Indian laws. It should establish a grievance office with wide network and set up an Indian corporate entity, subject to Indian laws, in a defined timeframe,” a source from the information technology (IT) ministry said.

Two days ago, things looked settled after WhatsApp Chief Executive Officer Chris Daniels met IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi to discuss ways to prevent the spread of fake messages. After the interaction, the minister had briefed the media, saying WhatsApp would try to work out a solution. Daniels and his team had refused to comment on the decisions taken at the meeting.

Fake news menace: You can share WhatsApp messages with only up to 5 people

In response to the government's crackdown on the circulation of fake news, especially using its platform, WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned instant messaging mobile app, has limit the number of people to whom you can forward a message to five.

The move follows several other steps with the same objective, such as issuing guidelines on how to identify forwarded messages and be a responsible user of the service.

The new feature would roll out as part of an app update from this week itself. The step came soon after the government asked WhatsApp and other social media platforms to take onus and help curb fake news circulation, which had been causing violence -- even lynching in some recent cases.

WhatsApp has also reportedly been testing more features to crack down on fake news on its platform. Recently, the company had started testing a feature in its beta app for Android in which the app recognises authenticity of the link and marks unusual links as ‘suspicious’.

Will take away credentials If you do negative stories, Trump warns media

Expressing his anguish over the continued "negative" coverage of his administration, US President Donald Trump today threatened to revoke media credentials of news channels.

"The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91 percent of the Network News about me is negative (Fake)," Trump rued in a tweet.

"Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?" Trump continued.

During the election campaign, Trump had denied credentials to some of the top media outlets including The Washington Post and Politico. They were later given access.

Trump routinely describes news outlets critical of him as "dishonest" and "fake". However, his White House has never denied credentials to news outlets. In fact, more news outlets have been given White House media credentials after he came to power.

Trump to announce 'most dishonest and corrupt media awards' next week

President Donald Trump who shares a bitter relationship with the mainstream American press has said he will announce the "most dishonest and corrupt" media awards next week.

Trump has been at loggerheads with several US mainstream media outlets, including the CNN, ABC News, The New York Times and the Washington Post among others.

He has quite often described these popular media houses as "fake" media.

The term is now popularly related to news with which one does not agree with.

"I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o'clock," Trump said in a late-night tweet.

"Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!" Trump said.
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'Fake news': Donald Trump's favourite phrase named word of the year

Fake news, a term heavily popularised by US President Donald Trump, been named the word of the year by Collins dictionary due to its widespread use around the world.

The UK-based lexicographer found that the use of "fake news" registered a 365 per cent rise in the last 12 months, reflecting Trump's consistent use of the word in the wake of the 2016 presidential election in retaliation to unflattering media coverage.

Defined as "false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting", fake news takes over from Brexit which was named the definitive word last year after the June 2016 referendum in favour of the UK's exit from the European Union (EU).

"'Fake news', either as a statement of fact or as an accusation, has been inescapable this year, contributing to the undermining of society's trust in news reporting," said Helen Newstead, Collins' head of language content.

The US President has regularly used the phrase to criticise certain media reports and most recently claimed this week that the "fake news is working overtime" in connection with the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

But Trump has not been alone in using the term.

Both British Prime Minister Theresa May and Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn have included it in speeches, and social media has been littered with accusations of fake news.
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Regret dismissing fake news' influence: Zuckerberg after Trump attacks FB

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has responded to United States President Donald Trump after he claimed that "Facebook was always anti-Trump."

"Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump," Zuckerberg said in a statement posted on Facebook.
"Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like," he added.

Zuckerberg added that he regrets his earlier comments dismissing the idea that "fake news on Facebook" shaped the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

"After the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea. Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it," he said.
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