By Deepak Joshi Pokhrel
We live in an age where information is all-pervasive and gets into all aspects of our lives. Access to and availability of information is essential at all levels of decision-making and for the effective conduct of any operation. True information plays a key role in the socio-economic and political betterment of society, while false information can ruin it from social, economic, cultural, and political aspects.
In the recent past, Nepalese society has been beset by misinformation, disinformation and misinformation. They misguide and mislead the citizens putting democracy at stake. Irrespective of their definition, all paint a picture of inaccurate content that only destabilizes the social, cultural and political aspects of the country.
In general, there are two types of information- good and bad information. The good information is accurate and credible while the bad information has subcategories like disinformation and misinformation. Disinformation is a deliberate attempt to spread false and incorrect information misleading and misguiding the people and misinformation is simply a mistake though people fall prey to it. The third one is malinformation which has been viewed as more dangerous than disinformation. It is the spread of genuine information to cause harm, damage or deception. Porn revenge is the best example of misinformation. In misinformation, the information is correct but shared with malevolent intentions.
The circulation of fake news in social media has not been an unusual business. However, during the elections, the tendency among political parties and their leaders increases multifold. In the run-up to the election, they incorrectly highlight their own party’s or their candidate’s accomplishments while undermining the works of the rival candidates and parties. This is the reason why we have not been able to elect the right candidate to govern us.
In 2024, more than 60 countries will hold their general elections. Our immediate neighbor India is scheduled to hold its general election in March-April, 2024. While this election will be a big electoral battle between the incumbent coalition government under the leadership of Narendra Modi and the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the issue of misinformation has grabbed the attention of political observers alike. A highly placed report says that social media and mainstream media could be misused by the candidate to discredit their political opponents influencing the election result.
Democracy, which is still nascent stage in Nepal, has been in jeopardy as a consequence arising from misinformation and disinformation. The periodic election gives fresh oxygen to democracy. However, widespread misinformation and disinformation are often instrumentalized during election times to sow division, target certain groups, or seek political gain. This has been the biggest threat to democracy in Nepal and perhaps elsewhere.
A cursory look at the consequences of bad information clearly indicates that democracy in a country like ours and perhaps elsewhere has become its victim. Nepal experienced a decade-long armed conflict which ended with the signing of the comprehensive peace accord in 2006 ushering into republican set-up. While the country is still transitioning to democracy, the democratic institutions have fallen prey to the republican set-up after peacefully abolishing the monarchy, the democratic institutions and process have fallen prey to this bad information.
The recent Nepali general elections of November 2022 offer a stark case study in this regard. Morphed pictures and images masquerading as legitimate news inundated social media. The sole intention seemed to undermine the electoral integrity by confusing the voters. Politicians bombarded unregulated social media with lies and half-truths discrediting their political opponents. There was also a trend of faking online media brand names and misusing mastheads to disseminate fake information that popular media never published, which he described as dangerous. Similarly, there was a flow of fake information regarding the announcement of candidates winning the election before votes were even counted. For example, a screenshot that claimed the Nepali Congress had issued a circular not to vote for Maoist candidates, was widely circulated on social media.
At present, the political parties and their leaders either own the media or manage and control the media houses. They do not register media with a noble intention to act as a voice for the voiceless people. They use these media houses to circulate fake or incorrect information to discredit their political opponent. Their actions only mislead and misguide the people threatening democracy. We should be careful about what they say and present to us.
Political observers say one of the lacking aspects is that the government still does not have a national policy and law on controlling false information. The Electronic Transactions Act, of 2063 (2008) prohibits the publication of illegal material in electronic form but does not cover the issue of disinformation entirely. When there are no strong laws and acts to control false information, democracy falls prey to it.
There is a thin line between the regulation of media and the freedom of expression. In a transitioning country like ours, the agencies are not fully institutionalized to differentiate what is fact information and what is not. As a consequence, ignorant citizens tend to believe disinformation as factual information and elect the wrong candidates to govern them putting democracy at stake. The country needs to have a national policy to tackle misinformation and disinformation, while adopting the policy, it must embrace democratic values.
The government in 2019 introduced the Information Technology Bill which would supersede the existing Electronic Transaction Act. But it invited criticism from the stakeholders for its wide-scope nature and the vague language used in the provisions that could give broad powers to the authorities to block social media platforms which are viewed as the biggest source of misinformation and disinformation.
Of course, the next general election in Nepal is still far away. We cannot afford our politicians to engage in misleading and misguiding the people through misinformation and disinformation. If we fail to inform, empower and educate the masses about how they can identify what is false and genuine information, we will endanger our democracy.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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