Fake news: Self and admin regulation
Last Tuesday, this newspaper reported that the Department of Telecommunications(दूरसंचार) (DoT) has asked whether telecom companies and internet service providers(सप्लाई करनेवाला) (ISPs) can block social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and Instagram, if there is a proliferation(प्रसार/फैलाव) of fake news on these apps. One week ago, IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the onus of curbing(नियंत्रण करना) fake news lies on the companies that own the apps. So, what is the official regulatory position on fake news and data misuse? State restrictions or self-regulation by app giants themselves? Government controls are not feasible(संभव/होने योग्य). One, asking telecom companies to regulate the proliferation of fake news is pointless(व्यर्थ/निराधार). Telecom companies are mere carriers(वाहक) of data: from social media platforms to users, and vice versa(विपरीत). A phone company has no control over the servers of, say, Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, or Google.
Two, no government, including(समेत) the US, has the capacity to monitor the gigantic(विशाल/बहुत बड़ा) volume of data on the internet every hour. An algorithm medical researchers use to track the speed of virus propagation has been modified to calculate how fast any item of fake news can spread (प्रचारित होना/विस्तार) to every person worldwide: 45 minutes. And fake news travels six times faster than genuine(वास्तविक ) news. Big data companies can be pressurised(दबाव/दबाया हुआ) to crack down on data theft from their servers, and that can help. However, the real solution must be self-regulation. If, say, Facebook and Google see a large drop in advertising(विज्ञापन) revenue(आय/राजस्व), due to a loss of credibility, the profit motive will drive them to regulate and weed out, possibly through algorithms and human editors, what is fake news and eliminate(निकाल देना/हटाना) those in near-real time from their servers. And administrators of groups that spread fake, hateful messages should be nailed by the police.
Important Vocabulary
1.Proliferation(प्रसार/फैलाव)
Synonyms: generation, procreation, propagation, reproduction
2.Gigantic(विशाल/बहुत बड़ा)
Synonyms: colossal, enormous, gargantuan, giant, huge
Antonyms: dwarf, insignificant, little, miniature, miniscule
3.Carriers(वाहक)
Synonyms:shipper, bearer, courier, messenger, transporter
Antonyms: receiver
4.Spread (प्रचारित होना/विस्तार
Synonyms:advance, advancement, dissemination, escalation, increase,
Antonyms: halt, stop, abridgment, compression, decrease
5.Eliminate(निकाल देना/हटाना)
Synonyms:cancel, defeat, dispose of, disqualify, eradicate
Antonyms:add, aid, allow, create, establish
