Awareness Needed to Stop Spreading Rumour on Facebook
Almost in every part of the globe, using social media has become a common phenomenon for people. Among all social media, Facebook is the most popular in the world. People like to post their thoughts, share news, comment on different issues by using this online-based platform. As a result, it is often seen that rumours are easily spread on Facebook.
For example, in 2012, after a Facebook post went viral in Ramu upazila of Cox’s Bazar district, many houses of local Buddhist residents and their ancient temples were vandalized by the mob. Later it had been proved that fake news was spread through Facebook and that made people crazy about attacking minority communities.
Moreover, this incident shows that most of the users of Facebook share news without trying to know or judging whether the news is published by a verified news agency or not. In addition, the government can play a vital role to stop rumours from spreading on Facebook by creating awareness and applying strict laws. For instance, if people are aware of the drawbacks of fake news on social media, they will not be inspired to post anything they see online. On the other hand, unauthorized news portals should be banned because mostly the fake news is spread through these news portals. If unapproved news portals don’t have any access to publishing news, the possibility of rumour from being spread on Facebook will decrease and the government will be able to stop any devastating incident.
In conclusion, as users, sometimes we have got the responsibility to verify the news before we decide to publish anything through our accounts. Otherwise, the wrong information would be revealed and publishing fake news will create an intense situation that might be difficult for the government to handle.
Md. Al-Amin
Bangladesh University
E-mail: [email protected]
