Slaying fake news, one report at a time

Around the world, fake news spread through social media has been blamed for distorting perceptions and political debate. UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye recently flagged the problem of fake news and the “risk that efforts to counter it could lead to censorship, the suppression of critical thinking and other approaches contrary to human rights law.’’ A University of Oxford study revealed that nearly a quarter of web content shared on Twitter in the battleground state of Michigan, during the final days of the US election campaign, was so-called fake news. Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) also found that users shared approximately as many fake news items as “professional news” over the same period. Here's a look at fake news that was busted in India.