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Four phases of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are over, but the slew of measures taken by WhatsApp to curb fake news—particularly during the polls—seem to have come a cropper. The fake news ecosystem is alive and kicking, and disinformation is still spreading like wildfire. If news reports are anything to go by, the dissemination of fake news and doctored videos on the world’s most popular messaging app has not ebbed in spite of the corrective and prohibitive steps that have been taken by WhatsApp since January this year. Among fake news that have gone viral in the recent past include a clipped

The centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, came victorious in Sunday's general election. The party captured 29 per cent of the vote, winning 123 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies. But the Socialists, till even the last minute, had seemed to be facing in uphill task, particularly in the wake of virulent disinformation campaigns waged by the far right Vox pary, which eventually the country's parliament for the first time since dictator General Franco's rule came to an end in 1975. Just days before the country went to the polls

In recent weeks, the amount of online fake news that circulated during the final months of the presidential race is coming to light, a disturbing revelation that threatens to undermine the country’s democratic process. We’re already seeing some real-world consequences. After fake news stories implicated a Washington, D.C. pizza shop as the site of a Clinton-coordinated child sex ring, a man wielding an AR-15 assault rifle entered the store on Dec. 4 to “investigate” and fired shots. Much of the analysis, however, has focused on the people who create these false articles – whether it’s

Last February, Cadbury Chocolate fell victim to a hoax. The image below went viral in an Indonesian WhatsApp group called “Viral Media Johor”, and later in a Nigerian group. Obviously, the post was fake news. The man in the image is Aminu Ogwuche, who was arrested on suspicion of involvement with the bombing of a Nigerian bus station back in 2014. He has never worked for Mondelez, the company that makes Cadbury chocolate, and their products are not infected with HIV. Indeed, it’s not even possible to contract HIV from eating food contaminated with HIV-positive blood. But the problem that this

Jair Bolsonaro’s election in October 2018 as president of Brazil marked a major shift in Latin American politics, ending nearly two decades of left-wing governments. On January 1, the far-right populist officially took power and is set to introduce new policies on virtually all fronts. Many of these policies – his plan for the environment, for example – are problematic, especially given Brazil’s status as the world’s eighth largest economy and one of the five most populous nations in the globe. But the deeper and most pressing concerns – both at national and global levels – are arguably the