Netizens must verify the information, before sharing anything on social media, considering the reality, usefulness and the negative impact on society to that post, say experts.
In this age of social media, people need to be more responsible on every click they make. This is the age of information. We are also in the age of misinformation. Social media so far played a vital role in communication. But, unfortunately a vested quarter is active in spreading rumours and hatred on the social media.
Social media can easily get flooded with fake news and rumours in several times. The number of fake news sites masking themselves as real news sites is growing. Netizens should always crosscheck and verify the authenticity of any news.
In the wake of recent religious hatred and violence across the country centering social media influence on the people shows a dark sign.
Social media activist Farhan Habib told Bangladesh Post, “If we look at the most recent violent occurrences in our country, you will find a solemn link to social media posts. The vast impact of social media on common and rural people can’t be ignored due to its significance to life.”
“Ramu, Brahmanbaria, Bogura, and Lalmonirhat are bearing the wounds of social media violence. As there is no gatekeeping, a user can post anything under the community guideline but he or she has to determine what to share and what not. Moreover, pre-assumption of the impact of a post should be considered,” he said.
Suggesting a solution to this problem he asked the government and non-governmental organisations, including telecom operators to conduct a massive awareness campaign to make people aware of the proper use of social media.
Clinical Psychologist Anisur Rahman mentioning the trust concept of social media said, “Our country’s social media users, especially Facebook users are not digitally literate. They don’t understand how much powerful the medium is. At the same time a large of people consider everything as truth whatever they find on their newsfeed.”
“Often many patients come to us with a trauma caused by social media contents. As it is unregulated, the user has a key role to play with his digital behavior. And don’t believe and share what you see on social media because behind every post there is a motive,” he added.
Tuhin Ahmed, hardware engineer (Design, Support, and Supervision) at a private telecom operator said, “Rumor, distorted information, and trust issues are rising due to the social media. Although we have digital security act to curb cyber-crime and violence we are yet to curb the violence completely caused by social media.”
He further said, “Developed countries have a strong cyber system to provide protection to their users. Our data servers are secured, in case of social media often identity gets hacked due to lack of basic IT privacy knowledge of users.”
There is no alternative of raising awareness among the people. Social media are very strong platform. People should be more careful while sharing any post. Nothing can be more dangerous than a rumour in our society.
A new world of connections among people on the Net is possible. So, people must not share anything and everything rather they should know the world better with the blessings of internet, experts opined.