HOPE EGHAGHA
My focus in today’s essay is the menace of fake news, both to individuals and society at large. It is tragic that apart from individuals planting fake news, governments also thrive in this industry. Cut throat competitions compel corporate organisations to plant fake stories about rival organisations.
One of the challenges and problems associated with disappearing boundaries is lack of factual knowledge about the real and the unreal, fake versus genuine, a copy and its original, and what constitutes truth. There is now the notion of alternative truth. Whereas we grew up with the axiom that truth is ever constant, there is now fluidity in our understanding of truth. George Orwell’s predictions in his dystopic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is well-nigh upon us!
A photocopied document in colour is just as good as the original document. But is it the original? No. An original document is the first that is produced by the author. It is the author’s idea and translation of the imagination into the realms of reality. How real is real? How does the hyperreal come into this discourse?
According to Wikipedia, ‘fake news is false or misleading information claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue. In the name of content creation people promote false narratives and leave powerless victims struggling to clear their names!
Artificial Intelligence and its limitless capacity have not made things any easier. The head of a president can be placed on the body of a bull or an equally grotesque animal. President Donald Trump has been depicted in different images that I am sure no one can count them! Or Bill Clinton could be seen in a video delivering a blistering attack on another politician, whereas such an attack did not really take place. President Tinubu has been so caricatured on social media that he no longer navigates that space, according to him!
The haunting metaphor of doubt mixed with faith used in the bible by patriarch Isaac on who should receive a final blessing encapsulated in ‘the voice of Jacob and the body of Esau’ has returned in the 21st century in a most mercurial manner. In Isaac’s case, he had lost his sight. He couldn’t see the truth. But he could feel it. He depended on physical things to feel the truth. It was a fierce battle between twins Jacob and Esau with their mother at the centre of the drama which had started at birth. Who was the older of the twins? Did Esau lose seniority over a ‘mess of pottage? So, something as simple as birth order becomes so complicated that it leads to lifelong enmity! For good measure, Trump’s earliest savage attacks on Barack Obama were about the latter’s identity, his place of birth and whether he was an American, even after winning the presidency!
These days, we can see pictures or videos of an incident. Supposed pictures. Videos. This unfortunately does not confer truth on such images. They could be AI generated! There are deep fakes too! So deeply fake, so successfully fake that they could fool the victim!
The immediate reason for this intervention is the rather mischievous, insulting, denigrating, false and callous video in circulation last week about a prominent and successful banker concerning divorce and paternity of their seven kids. I will not dignify the miscreants who started the nonsense by restating their bogus claims here. Suffice it to say that the purveyors of such a fabrication ought to be behind bars. Can you imagine reading on line that you are not what you are biologically? How could anybody concoct such a story and expect an applause from the victims? What is the motive? Were they used by rivals? Is there a family member suffering from sour grapes mentality? An angry dismissed worker? All of these thoughts came to my mind. I didn’t wait for a disclaimer to emerge before I drew my conclusions: this was and is fake news!
In the aftermath of the victim’s action, there were some bizarre online campaigns to release one of those who circulated the video. That it was a civil case and the big man should not use the police to intimidate a youth! That the man himself is a content creator. So, he should allow others to create contents too! Preposterous! The mob on social media are the arch ‘blocks, stones, worse than senseless things’ created by Shakespeare!
The adult male who proclaimed falsehood with such foolish and stupid gusto as if he was privy to the contents of the video should have his head examined. I hope that man has been invited by the police. Or does he live abroad? Is he out of the reach of the law? He certainly cannot be.
Fake news phenomenon has come to stay. Actor Tony Umez, a former University of Lagos student of mine, called me up two years ago to discuss some issues. On the internet I had seen a video of what was referred to as a report of his funeral, with a narrator speaking confidently. I asked him if he had seen the video. He said yes, that there been such videos!
This also reminds me of the Chief RBK Okafor’s gaffe announcing Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s supposed death on 8th November 1989. Called the ‘Zik-gate’ in Nigerian journalism, it established the fact that mainstream journalism can make near fatal errors. It was reported on the popular NTA News at 9pm as a tribute to the first President of Nigeria.
The NTA news dimension added the façade of truth to the patently fake news. Old man Zik did not spare his mischievous associates who had started to form a burial committee without verifying the news. After stating that he was ‘not in a hurry to leave the only planet I know’, Zik wished the conveyors of the false news ‘the death they’d wished him! Ironically some of those who rushed to announce his death died before Dr. Azikiwe!
In this business of fake news, while some are deliberate distortions designed to cause confusion, there are some that are inadvertent. Whatever the motive or excuse, it is unprofessional, libelous and could be traumatizing too. Reporting yourself is not synonymous with publishing news that is unverified. Or posting something about a personality without first confirming its veracity.
With the advent of ‘touch technology’, a single finger can forward fake news to multiple social media platforms in real time. In ten minutes one thousand people will be fed a false story. Only discerning minds would entertain doubts.
One of the options open to a victim is retracting the fake news. Wikipedia states that ‘a retraction of fake news generally helps reduce belief in misinformation, especially when it is detailed, prompt, and directly counters the false claim. While a “continued-influence effect” (or “stickiness”)] exists—where people recall the false story—detailed retractions can successfully update beliefs, reduce misinformation spread, and prevent negative behavioral changes.
Sadly, sometimes even after a retraction, there are some people who will remain skeptical in the face of overwhelming evidence that the report is false. No one should be subjected to such traumatic injury. Anyone who deliberately creates and circulates such false news should be punished for the offence.
Social media policing has become necessary. The security agencies have become adept at picking up some people who publish terrible things against the state. We may need this strategy to protect citizens. But how many people can we monitor to prevent fake news? The ocean is deep and wide. The scavengers and purveyors of fake news must take into account the possibility of punishment.
Fake news is a menace to decent society. False stories are often planted to destabilize those at the receiving end of the stick. Fake stories promote false narrative. As for the banker involved, he has made the point. He is too big and successful to be defined by some miserable psychotic miscreants on social media. Just shake it off, Man, and move on!
Prof. Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha writes from HENSARD UNIVERSITY, Toru-Orua, Bayelsa State.