Growth In ICT Fuels Fake News
Pini Bothoko | Monday October 9, 2017 16:33
Fake news has become a troubling phenomenon, allegedly used to invade people’s privacy. Accounts are at risk of being hacked and bank cards being cloned.
The use of the Internet has enabled the sharing of knowledge much easier and people across the globe are getting their news from social media. Research has proven that more and more people are seeing and believing that the information they get from the social media is accurate. There are lots of fake news websites out there that imitate real life newspapers, something that has forced Hlanganani ICT Botswana to organise a symposium to sensitise people against fake news.
In an interview with The Monitor, the managing director of Hlanganani ICT, Boitshepo Bolele stated that the arrival of social media has resulted in fake news being presented as real stories, but tend to confuse people. She said fake news that circulate on social media has the risk of spreading lies that threaten the truth.
“Social media has created new crimes, amplified and flexed the way crimes are committed, especially in crimes where individuals are targeted. The impact of these crimes on an individual’s time, livelihood or emotional state are catastrophic,” Bolele said.
She stated that fake news, social media and cyber security is an opportunity for ICT professionals, media, security cluster, legal professionals, academia, government to meet and discuss the digital space in the context of the law, digital media, digital crimes, digital evidence and the securing of the digital space. She said the symposium seeks submissions from academia, the industry, the government to present innovative approaches, case studies, and best practices on all practical and theoretical aspects of social media and cyber security.
“The symposium scheduled for October 26 will be headlined by South African Advocate Gerrie Nel, who was a South African state prosecutor and advocate for the National Prosecuting Authority. He handled the Oscar Pistorius trial that had a huge component of digital evidence,” Bolele said.
“Easy access to ICT has resulted in everyone being vulnerable to fake news, hence the importance of holding this upcoming symposium to sensitise people about fake news. Examples of new crimes include disclosing private sexual images without consent, false or offensive social media profiles, cyber relationships and related risks, publishing communications which are grossly offensive, indecent and obscene content.”
She said key issues to be discussed include interrogating fake news phenomenon to establish if technology has disrupted or corroded public discourse and the truth.
“The event will look at the relevance of mainstream media in the era of digital media as newspapers no longer have monopoly on news and there is a rise of user-generated content. We will also interrogate key editorial standards for accuracy, independence and impartiality in the digital era, redefining legal instruments in the digital media era looking at options available for legal redress,” Bolele said.
She said the event will sensitise stakeholders on defamation of character and other libels as well as to interrogate the legal instruments in Botswana for tackling cyber evasion, cyber crime, digital forensics including prosecution and interrogation of digital evidence.