Study to decode how WhatsApp fake news is influencing Indian voters
The rampant misuse of social media platforms to spread fake news has been a global cause for concern, and now researchers are conducting a study in India to find out how misinformation shared through WhatsApp messages is influencing the voters in the country.
According to UK-based Indian researcher Sayan Banerjee, fake news does not change people's political opinions, but rather reinforces the existing beliefs and brings out the worst impulses within us.
Various reports have suggested that fake news is used to create false perceptions about political candidates or a specific groups of people -- manipulating the choices of the voters.
Banerjee and his team from the University of Essex in the UK want to understand how fake news spread through WhatsApp affects politics, ethnic violence and public policy choices in diverse and developing countries like India.
The team is set to conduct a five-week long research study in 18 constituencies across four states -- UP, Bihar, West Bengal and ...