Millions of fake accounts culled daily

The 2019 Trusted Media Summit in Singapore brought together over a hundred resource persons on fake news, fact-checkers and journalists. (John Henry Dodson)

SINGAPORE—Journalists around the world must band together to combat the proliferation of fake news through fact-checking activities, speakers at the Google-organized 2019 Trusted Media Summit for Asia-Pacific emphasized on Saturday.

While media organizations are naturally competitive, a call was made by delegates for news frontliners acting as fact-checkers to have “each others’ back” in amplifying facts and exposing falsehoods.

The Summit, with the Daily Tribune as one of the Philippine media representatives, brought together resource persons on fake news and disinformation from such countries as New Zealand, United States, Thailand and Mongolia.

The talks are being held under the Chatham House Rule in which the information shared may be freely used without revealing the identity or affiliation of the speakers.

The Internet was characterized as a “hostile environment” for journalists under attack not only by some governments but by social media forces including the so-called trolls.

While studies have shown fake news is spreading, they also noted the rise in the general public and media organizations recognizing the misinformation and flagging them as false.

Tech companies including search engine and social media operators, according to one source, have deployed software and systems that can detect fake news while training the public and journalists on verification techniques.

Improving digital literacy worldwide was pushed in the face of the sophisticated techniques being used by fakers especially those who produce “deep fake” videos.

Speakers from a social media platform operator, said they remove fake accounts by millions on a daily basis with many during the time of creation.

“Bad actors” or those involved in click-bait strategies are also removed, along with those who violate their “community standards,” they added.

The social media firm said it has partnered with 55 fact-checking partners worldwide in 45 languages accredited by an international fact-checking network.

The divergent ethnicity of the participants necessitated translators. (John Henry Dodson)

To qualify as a fact-checking partner, an organization must be non-partisan and must have transparency of sources, funding, methodology and in correcting false information.

A study has shown that 55 percent of people active in the Internet have raised concern about fake news, with 26 percent solely relying on more reputable sources and 24 percent shunning sources found to have peddled fake news.

A video presentation of a wire agency based in the United States enumerated ways to detect fake news report as follows:

2) Read beyond the headlines in the face of click-bait tactics of some news sources.

3) Look for bylines and credits for photos and videos.

4) See if credible sources had been cited or quoted.

5) For images, use reverse image search to verify the origins of photos and videos.