For the month of October, videos were the most common medium to share communal mis/disinformation, while images were the most common medium to share political mis/disinformation, according to an analysis.
Last month, BOOM did 67 fact checks where the most dominant topics were politics and communal, accounting for 36 and 25 fact checks, respectively.
Furthermore, we also saw a sudden rise in fake news about Bangladesh and Tripura. BOOM wrote 8 fact checks about Bangladesh and 7 fact checks about Tripura. The spike was after the communal violence reported in both regions.
What Type Of Fake News Went Out?
26 fact checks were of the type, Misleading Content, making it the most common type of fake news shared in October. Misleading Content is when genuine information is framed in a manner intended to mislead the reader.
This was followed by 23 fact checks of the type, False Context i.e. real photos, videos, or text presented out of context.
Who Was Targetted?
The most frequent target of mis/disinformation last month was the Muslim community with 19 fact checks on false and misleading claims targetting Muslims.
The second most frequent target was political parties in opposition with 13 fact checks on false and misleading claims targetting such parties and their members.
What Were The Popular Medium Of Sharing Fake News?
The most popular medium was video - 35 of our fact checks were on misleading and false claims made using a video.
The second most popular medium was an image, accounting for 27 of our fact checks.
Some Interesting Observations
One of the most prominent observations from October was how political and communal fake news was shared.
28.4% of our fact checks (19 fact checks) were done on political mis/disinformation shared using images, and another 28.4 % (19 fact checks) were done on communal mis/disinformation shared using videos.
The most common type of fake news were videos and photos shared out of context. Such claims accounted for 21 fact checks - 11 fact checks done on videos, and 10 done on photos, all shared out of context.
There were also 16 fact checks (23.9%) done on genuine videos shared in a misleading manner.
Yet another observation we made was that communal and political claims were usually made by using genuine information and presenting them in a misleading manner.
Such claims accounted for 26 fact checks (13 communal claims, and 13 political claims).