IAF

IAF Replication Workshop: Safeguarding Freedom Amidst the Era of Fake News

On 20-21 September, a workshop developed out of the IAF’s “Safeguarding Freedom in the Digital World” seminar took place in Tawau, Sabah. Focusing on the topic of fake news specifically, Rahman Imuda, one of our outstanding alumni, invited a group of 20 (twenty) young people–arguably a demographic most exposed to the rapidly evolving cyberspace–to critically examine the issue which has become increasingly problematic in the face of our growing collective attachment to being online.

The workshop kicked off with the establishment of the definition of fake news. It is important to distinguish it from legitimate news as well as misinformation, wherein the former refers to true, verified information as the name suggests and the latter indicates false information that is often not deliberately spread with the intent to mislead.

The group then explored various examples of fake news and examined how easily false information can be re-packaged to masquerade and spread as credible news in today’s digital environment, particularly with the help of social media platforms and instant messenger applications. The participants also contributed to the discussion with stories of encountering online false information of their own, which helped ground the conversation to reality and put it in a much more familiar context to be understood.

Afterwards, the conversation naturally turned to the harmful impacts of widespread false information. Within socio-political context, rampant mis- and dis-information may result in the declining of public trust, weakening of democratic processes, and eroding social cohesion. Such risks obviously need to be mitigated to prevent them from happening, and the group of participants found themselves debating over the pro and cons of Germany’s Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (NetzDG/Network Enforcement Act), an existing law introduced to combat fake news, hate speech, and misinformation online. They examined whether similar law would be feasible to be applied in a dynamic and heterogeneous society such as Malaysia.

However, the consensus between the participants was that the mitigation goes beyond merely legal mechanisms. It also involves laying the groundwork for a robust and empowered society by pushing for digital literacy education as well as encouraging critical thinking. In their case, it means starting the initiatives right from home; the group came up with diverse ideas for workshops, social media campaigns, and partnerships with local schools and communities to promote critical thinking and media literacy in Tawau, Sabah. The workshop that lasted for two days then ended with a call-to-action session where the participants were encouraged to develop concrete steps to manifest their ideas into reality.

This article is written based on the report prepared by Rahman Imuda.