Faking News

Why fake news, bots and followers can’t be easily curbed and the risk it poses to brands

- Neeta Nair & Samarpita Banerjee

 You can buy 10,000 followers on Instagram for Rs 9,000 and on Twitter for Rs 7,500 for your travel blog,” was the matter-of-fact statement we heard from the owner of a Delhi-based company which makes money out of selling followers or likes to bloggers, brands, models and celebrities. He believed us when we posed as prospective travel bloggers and laid out the deal. And mind you, it was 100% legitimate business. While social media giants frown on such practices, there is no law which actually stops these fastmushrooming companies from them. Each online platform is engaged in countering the malaise in its own way. Twitter is fighting its own battle against bots, which are often accused of being carriers of fake news. The platform has weeded out 70 million bots over the last two months from its system, the impact of which is believed to have reduced the ‘followers’ of India’s biggest brand – Narendra Modi by a good 23% and many others respectively. Meanwhile, Facebook has promised to delete inaccurate or misleading information created or shared “with the purpose of contributing to or exacerbating violence or physical harm”. But will such measures really help in putting an end to the epidemic of fake news, especially when the future of carefully nurtured brands is at stake? Let’s find out.