Daily Times

Some journalists and TV show hosts, who are either non-professional or agenda setters, pick up social media content based on misinformation, disinformation and malinformation

Pakistan has a thriving digital media scene since major social media platforms have significantly increased their user base. With rapid rise in internet penetration and the number of mobile phone users, digital media is emerging as a key platform for the delivery of information in Pakistan. Even those who are less educated and don’t use internet are indirectly influenced by digital media since information is quickly passed on to them by users. It means that we are directly or indirectly under the sway of digital media and are predominantly inclined to believe in it. A click or a swipe works wonders and opens to us the enigmatic digital world of information.

The hyper connectivity and easy and quick access to information pose serious challenges. We are exposed to and getting overwhelmed and swayed by a chaotic and polluted information environment. Coping with the onslaught of partisan and hyper-partisan content, propaganda and conspiracies, rumours and hoaxes, and falsehoods and manipulated content is an immense challenge of the time. The term “fake news” that most people are familiar with does not coverall of it. Therefore, in order to understand what is disseminated through digital media, we need to pick out the right term.

“We are increasingly seeing the weaponisation of context,” said Claire Wardle, co-founder of First Draft, an organisation working on the web content verification. According to First Draft, most of the web content is not fake; rather, it is often genuine but used out of context and weaponised by people.

While reading and sharing digital media content, we should be cognizant of these terms: misinformation, disinformation and malinformation. According to First Draft, misinformation describes false content but the person sharing it does not realise it is false or misleading. Those who share such content believe they are helping others or doing it for satire and fun.Disinformation is intentionally created false content that is designed to cause harm. It is aimed at damaging reputation, gaining influence and making money. The third category is malinformation and it has serious consequences. This content is based on genuine information but shared with an intent to cause harm. The most common form of malinformation is publishing or disseminating out of context information for personal, political or corporate gains.

It is observed that users are constantly targeted by misinformation, disinformation and malinformation through digital media. Each moment is challenging. Politicians, authoritarian regimes, extremist groups, anti-social elements, hate speakers, agenda setters, conspiracy theorists, and corporate groups are not only targeting people but using them as tools to spread messages.

Some journalists and TV show hosts, who are either non-professional or agenda setters, pick up social media content based on misinformation, disinformation and malinformation

The most dangerous aspect is that some journalists and TV show hosts, who are either non-professional or agenda setters, pick up social media content based on misinformation, disinformation and malinformation, and report and highlight it without verification. And common people who deem them professionals and opinion leaders believe in it and pass on the information without a second thought, unaware of the consequences. We have witnessed in Pakistan that in extreme cases, the practice has resulted in physical attacks on people including politicians, journalists, teachers, students, minority groups, human rights activists, and ended up taking their lives.So, do not shut your eyes to the potential dangers of what you share since trolls, hate-speakers, cyber-bullies, online scammers, hackers, predators, and paedophiles are out to weaponise digital media.

It is a testing time. It is not an age of information but an age of information disorder turning into information pollution. That is more threatening than environmental pollution.

The writer is an Islamabad-based journalist and a media analyst. He can be reached at tariq.freed@yahoo.com