FAKE

NEWS
Spot it. Stop it!
Fake News – Spot it. Stop it!
‘At a time when fake news has become an
unrelenting cancerous spread, Gaurav Sood’s
book is a valued attempt at analysing the fake
news factory, and how it is affecting public
discourse. For media practitioners and
consumers, the book offers a well-researched
insight into just why we need to act before it is
too late. A book that diagnoses the problem but
also offers solutions. Wish Gaurav all the
success!’
—Rajdeep Sardesai, consulting
editor, India Today TV
 Fake News—A Guerrilla Communication
The Propaganda War
• ‘fake news’ has been used as a form of
‘guerrilla communication’ to harm the
reputation of an opponent, political figure,
celebrity or brand.
• It is a form of guerrilla communication
encompassing strategies like fake news, lies,
manipulation, brainwashing, deceit,
psychological warfare and disinformation.
• Fake news creates significant public
confusion regarding current events.
• Is this the Art of War? Can opponents,
opposition groups, competitors, brands and
political activists use fake news to win over
their rivals?
Types of Fake News
• Satire or Parody: stories created with the aim of
cultural jamming or creating memes for fun; for
example, Charlie Hebdo satirizes issues of public
interest.
• Misinformation: selective news coverage of a real
event aimed at influencing the perception of the
reader or audience in a specific direction.
• Biased reporting: agenda-driven reporting in which
facts are not verified or ignored to support a
particular position or point of view.
• Clickbait: misleading headlines to attract attention
in the digital space to make money or entice users
to visit a particular website or landing page.
• Propaganda: stories not based on facts are widely
circulated in popular culture to defame a brand or
present a brand in an incorrect light.
 Tool without the Handle
• Partisan Polarization Driving Fake News (Bharat Jodo)
• Fake news has become a pervasive phenomenon. (Pizzagate)
• Digitalization of Guerrilla Communication
• In the digital world, fake news is a powerful and socially destructive force.
• The elephant in the room is the advertising market and its influence on the
funding of fake news busters.
 Fake News -
A Tool for Culture Jamming
• Sniping and Subvertising
• Adbusters
• Media Fake News
• Audio Propaganda
• Billboard Banditry
• Guerrilla Semiotics
• Postscript from the edge
‘NO WAR’ Billboard Banditry –
An Intimate Portrayal of Culture Jamming
 Fake News—
Culture Jamming the Democratic Process
 Fake News—Manipulating People’s
Perception of Reality
The danger of fake news lies in its ability to
manipulate people’s perception of reality.

• An image of Canadian Prime Minister Justin

Trudeau with the Sikh community was circulated,
falsely claiming his participation in the farmers’
protest.
• A comical fake image of Union Minister Smriti Irani
watching Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ on her
laptop.
• A morphed photograph of Rahul Gandhi having tea
and what was claimed to be a beef dish, whereas
the original picture did not have the plate of beef.
Fake News: Culture Jamming the Celebrities

Fake news
and celebrities
have a weird
relationship.
Love them or
hate them,
but you can’t
ignore them.
 Fake News—
A Double-Edged Sword for Brands
The trouble with brands is that they could
either be the propagator or the victim of
fake news.
 Brands—Fake It to Make It

Misleading brand communication

• Health Claims
• Green Washing
• Hidden Fees
• False Advertising
• Deceptive Labeling
 How Fake News Affects What We Buy and
Consume

• Misleading product reviews

• False advertising claims
• Disinformation campaigns
• Fabricated news articles

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday accused Volkswagen Group

of deceiving American consumers into buying emission-spewing diesel
vehicles, seeking more than $15 billion in damages in what could be
one of the largest false-advertising cases in U.S. history.
 Psychology of Fake News:
Why Do People Fall For Fake News?
• Cognitive biases • Dunning–Kruger effect
• Confirmation bias • Illusory truth effect (‘The earth is flat.’ ,
• Availability heuristic ‘COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility.’ , ‘More
guns make us safer.’ )
• Cognitive dissonance • Social endorsement (Group polarization,
• Lack of critical thinking skills Authority bias, Emotional contagion)
• Lack of knowledge • False Beliefs By-products of Our Adaptive
Knowledge Base
• Tribalism

Did Indian Prime Minister Narendra

Modi stop the Russia–Ukraine war for
72 hours to evacuate 35,000 Indians?
 How Memes Stir Up Fake News
• psychological operations (PSYOP) tactics
• social learning theory suggests that people
are more likely to adopt and share memes
that are consistent with their existing beliefs
and values, as well as those that they
perceive to be popular or socially desirable.
• Used to spread false information or
conspiracy theories
 How Memes Stir Up Fake News
Meme Types
• Manipulation of images
• Satirical or ironic memes
• Clickbait
• Conspiracy theories
• Partisan Politics
• All Is Not Bad with Memes
 Role of Media in Spreading Fake News
• Rushing to be the first to report • Sushant Singh Rajput, JNU, Aryan
• Confirmation bias Khan etc.
• Lack of fact-checking • ‘Donald Trump Caught Snorting
Cocaine by Hotel Staff’
• Sensationalism • ‘Shocking! Salman Khan Caught
• Clickbait headlines Drunk-Driving Again!’
• Overhyping stories
• Using emotional language
• Sensational images & videos
• Biased reporting
• The media circus
• Setting the Agenda
 Fake News Amplification
• FOMO BOT attacks
• Spamming
• Confirmation bias
• Fake news and
• Availability Heuristic disinformation
• Impersonation
• Social Comparison
• Amplification
• Illusion of Control • Botnets
• Social media can amplify the spread • Account takeover
• Click fraud
• Algorithmic Amplification
• Brute force attacks
• Content-Based Recommender System
• Collaborative Recommendation System
• Bots and Propagation of Fake News
• Microtargeting and the Propagation of Fake News (Cambridge
Analytica)
• Trolls and the Propagation of Fake News
 Truth Behind Fake News—
Role of Fact-Checkers
• Fact checkers help to identify and Number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths
worldwide as of 2 May 2023 by country
correct false or misleading
information that is being circulated. Mexico 333895

• fact-checkers help to promote

transparency and accountability in the
Russia 398336

media. India 531547

• fact-checkers help to promote critical

thinking and media literacy.
Brazil 701494

USA 1161164

World 6866733

0 1000000 2000000 3000000 4000000 5000000 6000000 7000000 8000000

 Truth Behind Fake News—
Role of Fact-Checkers
Exposure to fake news across India in 2019

STORIES THAT ARE MADE UP TO MAKE PEOPLE

36%
LAUGH (SATIRE)

USE OF TERM 'FAKE NEWS' TO DISCREDIT NEW

97 per cent of villages were already electrified before 2014 MEDIA
36%

ADVERTISEMENTS THAT LOOK LIKE NEWS STORIES 37%

WHEN FACTS ARE SPUN OR TWISTED TO PUSH A

39%
PARTICULAR AGENDA

POOR JOURNALISM (FACTUAL MISTAKES,

39%
MISLEADING HEADLINES / CLICKBAITS)

STORIES THAT ARE COMPELETELY MADE UP FOR

45%
POLITICAL OR COMMERCIAL REASONS

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

 Is Fake News Fascinating to the Brain?
• Fake news can be fascinating to the brain due
to its ability to quickly capture attention,
exploiting the brain’s limited attention span.
• humans are naturally drawn to novelty and
the unexpected, and fake news often presents
a twist on familiar topics
• This can trigger a dopamine release in the
brain, which is associated with pleasure and
reward, and can make fake news feel
inherently interesting and engaging.
• Also, fake news can tap into our emotions and
beliefs, which can be powerful motivators.
According to the “Interpersonal Deception theory”, there are
several factors that influence the effectiveness of deception,
including the deceiver’s communication skills, the target’s ability to
detect deception, and the context in which the deception occurs.
 How to Protect and Defend Yourself from
Fake News
• Media Literacy and Fake News
• Recognizing Fake News (Beyond
headlines, recency, author, source etc)
• Filtering Information from Multiple
Sources
• Gauging Tone and Language
• Always Question Numbers and
Figures
• The Power of Images
• Fact check @ fact checkers