Why fact-checking is essential

Having been working for some years to understand the trends and traits of misinformation in the Bangladeshi online sphere, I often encounter the question: "How can we fight the menace of misinformation?" This question is common as well as significant, but it has no concrete answer. Experts and policymakers across the globe have been in search of remedies for fake news that has proliferated over the years alongside the increase in internet penetration and the rise of social media platforms.

The concept of social media democratises the information ecosystem, but at the same time, it brings a burden of unverified information that is unprecedented in volume. Every citizen has now become a "journalist" and "publisher." Traditionally, the media has always played the role of gatekeeper when it comes to the accuracy of information, but a social media user does not necessarily have any obligation or scope or even desire to verify everything he or she shares on his or her social media account(s). That's where modern fact-checking—the process of verifying already-published claims—comes in.

There are different approaches, in different societies, to counter fake news that includes awareness campaigns, media and news literacy programmes, legal measures against those involved in coordinated misinformation drives, and alerting the public through fact-checking. Numerous studies confirm that fact-checking is an effective tool to counter misinformation. One such study, conducted by two researchers from George Washington University and The Ohio State University in the US, found that "experiments conducted simultaneously in Argentina, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United Kingdom reveal that fact-checks increase factual accuracy, decreasing belief in misinformation."

Another research by a team of Paris-based researchers concluded similarly while assessing the efficacy of fact-checking. "Fact-checking can improve the accuracy of audiences' factual knowledge," the research says, but it does not necessarily change people's minds.

In Bangladesh, we see that a section of the mainstream media often turns into a vehicle of misinformation; the same goes for the politicians, too. When their false claims are constantly challenged by fact-checkers, these important institutions of state face some form of accountability. By increasing the reputational risk of making false claims, fact-checking may help discourage politicians as well as media platforms from promoting misinformation.

Several experimental research works have found promising impacts of fact-checking on politicians. A study by Chloe Lim, a PhD candidate at Stanford University, examined how checking published facts affected the repetition of claims in speeches made by presidential candidates in the 2012 and 2016 US presidential elections. She found that marking a politician's claim as false decreases the likelihood of said politician repeating the same claim by 9.5 percentage points.

Similarly, studies show that fact-checking is a good means of holding journalists accountable for the accuracy of their reporting. As a fact-checker who deals with Facebook's third-party fact-checking programme in Bangladesh, I am a witness to how quickly media outlets here correct false or misleading pieces of information they inadvertently carry on their platforms to avoid restrictions imposed by the social media giant. Not only the media, but the content creators who have embraced or are willing to embrace Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms as a source of revenue are also increasingly becoming careful about peddling fake news through their productions.

What's interesting here is that, despite all these positive outcomes of the practice of fact-checking, there is yet no move by any Bangladeshi mainstream media outlet to launch a fact-checking operation of its own, which could contribute to restoring the waning public trust on the media. In India, top media houses have their fact-checking teams and they regularly publish stories debunking different kinds of online hoaxes. Some outlets do fact-checks disproving claims made by politicians, including their prime minister. The same is true for the US, the UK and other countries where reputed media houses have dedicated fact-checkers to hunt down fake news and false claims made by public figures and institutions. Recognising the unfavourable journalistic atmosphere, especially for political fact-checking here in Bangladesh, our top media houses should still go for it. A team of dedicated fact-checkers can save these outlets from falling prey to misinformation campaigners.

Amid the wave of misinformation and disinformation surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), along with hundreds of fact-checking organisations across the world, observed the International Fact-Checking Day on April 2, 2022. At a time like this, a healthy information ecosystem requires everyone to do their part in elevating facts, where the media is expected to lead the way.

Qadaruddin Shishir is a fact-checker based in Dhaka.