Spreading Fake News in the Virtual Realm in Bangladesh: Assessment of Impact
Fake news is ‘false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.’ The upsurge of technological advancement, especially social media, has paved the way for spreading fake news. The virtual realm spurs fake news as per the speed of air. Nowadays, fake news has been one of the social problems in the world along with Bangladesh. Self-seeker groups use fake news as an ‘atomic arsenal’ to disseminate their popular rhetoric with supersonic speed for fulfilling male purposes. Fake news is usually rampant during any crisis, elections, and even in campaigns. The hoaxers and fakers exploit the opportunity of the wavering psychology of the social media users, and fake news becomes ‘viral’ on social media, Facebook. Recently Bangladesh has faced an acute crisis of spreading fake news during the ‘Movement of Nirapod Sarak Chai, ‘National election in December 2018’ and very recent ‘need child’s head for Padma Bridge.’ This study titled “Spreading Fake News in the Virtual Realm in Bangladesh: Assessment of Impact” seeks the reasons for spreading fake news and its’ social impact in Bangladesh. This paper is based on secondary literature. The Rapid growth of online journalism, most of the online portals are run by unskilled, and less educated persons, lack of news sense, lack of national security act for controlling web portal, lack of ethical knowledge of journalism, lack of implementation of the law to punish criminals, mistrust on existing justice, mistrust on police who are detached from mass people, taking revenge on political rivals, derange social discipline, creating a chaotic environment, the suspicious mind of mass people, lack of knowledge and mass awareness are the main reasons of spreading fake news in Bangladesh.
