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BBC hosts conference on beyond fake news at IIIT-H

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) hosted a conference Beyond Fake News at IIIT Hyderabad campus on 12 November. The main focus of the conference on tackling the menace of digital misinformation and what could be done about it.  And to fight fake information that is causing social and political harm and also leading to violence.  Panellists attributed the rise in fake news to lack of trust among people in mainstream media and hence they tend to believe any kind of news circulated on social media, without verifying the credibility or sources of such information. They claimed that people below 20 years and over 50 years are more likely to fall victim to fake news. During the conference, BBC research findings on how and why disinformation were also shared.

Some of the conference speakers were Prof. Vasudeva Varma (Dean RnD, IIIT-H), Mr. Madabushi Sridhar Acharyulu (Central Information Commissioner), MS. Rema Rajeshwari (IPS officer) and Mr. Rakesh Reddy (founder of Factly.in, a data journalism portal).