Have you recently came across this post on your timeline?
If yes and if you are a Logical Indian, we assume you must have googled to verify the authenticity of the post and chose to ignore it as it’ll do no good than harm.
Amid a raging controversy over events at Jawaharlal Nehru University, there are millions of Indian who believed this image stating that the Tata group has refused to employ JNU students in their company.
Imagine the extent of damage and the number of ignorant people present on social media that such a post got over 73,000 likes, 21,000 shares, 6000 comments and all this from an individual’s profile that too in just a span of 9 hours (the post has been deleted now and is no longer available).
The image was so widely shared that Tata Group has to officially come forward and clarify that they haven’t issued any such notification and has no relation with whatsoever mentioned in the post as per a report stated on Economic Times.
Mr Tata has not issued any such statement. https://t.co/tIVi6Vgukh
— Tata Group (@TataCompanies) February 15, 2016
Such incidents have surfaced in the past too, the photoshopped images were spread all over Internet to spread hatred and misinformation. Platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp have been extensively used for such propagandas and manipulation of the masses.
Time and again, The Logical Indian community made an appeal to all the Internet users in India that whatever you come across especially on social media or messaging platforms such as ‘Whatsapp’, take a moment and put some effort to verify the authenticity of the news so that you don’t become a part of spreading any misinformation. There’s no doubt social media has empowered us, but with power comes ‘responsibility’.
Verifying a news hardly takes a minute and all it requires is a google search. Whenever you come across such instances. Please don’t share the links/tweets/screenshots unless you verify and find it true. In this age of social media, the power lies with us and so does the responsibility. Think twice before you endorse something on the internet with your like, share and tweet.
We put all our efforts to verify the news and stories we publish but despite of that, we request all of our members to even verify any news and stories we publish at The Logical Indian particularly the sensitive and controversial ones and follow the same habit whenever you come across any such news from any other source. Neither Facebook nor the government can stop anyone or any group from spreading misinformation but all we can do is put our individual effort and verify a sensitive news before sharing it. Each share contributes to a pile of shares and thus you become a part of the viral-chain.
There’s more you can do!
Once you find that the news is false and see people falling for it, you can-
■ Comment on the post stating that this news is perhaps not authentic as you haven’t found any verified news links hence requesting everyone to refrain from sharing this and spreading the information.
■ Report the post to the respective platform(Facebook,Twitter,etc) choosing the appropriate reason.
(Below is a screenshot showing how to report a content on Facebook)
In case you have missed our coverage and opinion on the JNU issue, here you can find it, kindly read and share your opinion with us. We are also coming up with our second coverage on the JNU issue very soon.
