Yes Bank files complaint against ‘fake news’, attempt to scare depositors

Yes Bank seeks multi-disciplinary team of experts for detecting the origin of the fake news.

Yes Bank on Sunday said it has file a police complaint against “fake news and rumours” on social media about its finances, saying there was an attempt to scare depositors. The bank complained to the Mumbai Police’s cyber cell after its promoters cut their stake and the company’s shares took a beating at stock exchanges. “Yes Bank has lodged a complaint with Mumbai Police and Cyber Cell against the dissemination of fake news and spread of rumours about the bank’s financial health on WhatsApp and other social media platforms,” the bank said in a regulatory filing.

It requested authorities to form a multi-disciplinary team of experts for detecting the origin of the fake news and assess the short-sell positions, held either directly or indirectly, by such accused persons.

“Over the past few days some miscreants have been spreading false information and malicious rumours about Yes Bank on WhatsApp and other social media platforms to create panic and fear in the mind of its depositors. The messages attempt to portray the bank in poor light and are intended to tarnish the image of the bank in the eyes of its depositors, stakeholders and the general public,” the bank said.

“The bank appeals to its trusted patrons to be cautious of false information circulating against it and assures that its financial position continues to be absolutely safe and sound,” it said...

WhatsApp unveils ‘tipline’ service to curb misinformation ahead of LS polls

The latest move follows a number of campaigns by WhatsApp to educate users on fake news

Current Affairs: WhatsApp on Tuesday propelled another administration that enables clients to submit for audit messages they believe are deceiving or convey unconfirmed data, in the most recent of a progression of ventures to check deception on the informing stage.

WhatsApp said its beginning ‘tipline’ administration. Clients can send suspicious messages to the ‘tipline telephone number’ to approve the genuineness of cases in those messages, which might be as content, pictures or recordings. The administration will react by arranging the said data as “genuine, false, deceptive, debated or out of extension and (may) incorporate whatever other related data that is accessible”, WhatsApp said in an announcement. Starting at now, it bolsters Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam dialects, other than English.

WhatsApp, its parent firm Facebook and other online networking destinations are feeling the squeeze from neighborhood specialists to be progressively proactive in recognizing and expelling questionable substance on their stages, particularly as India gets ready to go surveys this month. Deception and phony news circled over WhatsApp and Facebook bunches have been behind brutality and other untoward occurrences in India before…

Didn’t do enough to prevent misuse during Myanmar violence: Facebook

A report warned that Facebook must be prepared to handle a likely onslaught of misinformation during Myanmar’s 2020 elections

International News : Facebook Inc on Monday said a human rights report it commissioned on its presence in Myanmar showed it had not done enough to prevent its social network from being used to incite violence.

The report by San Francisco-based nonprofit Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) recommended that Facebook more strictly enforce its content policies, increase engagement with both Myanmar officials and civil society groups and regularly release additional data about its progress in the country.

“The report concludes that, prior to this year, we weren’t doing enough to help prevent our platform from being used to foment division and incite offline violence. We agree that we can and should do more,” Alex Warofka, a Facebook product policy manager, said in a blog post.

BSR also warned that Facebook must be prepared to handle a likely onslaught of misinformation during Myanmar’s 2020 elections, and new problems as use of its WhatsApp grows in Myanmar, according to the report, which Facebook released.

Business Standard OR BS

More than 1,600 URLs blocked in India over last 18 months to curb fake news

Facebook blocked the most (956 or 58%) of URLs, under section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, followed by Twitter (25%) and YouTube (9%)

As many as 1,662 uniform resource locators (URLs) or posts on social media were blocked over 18 months ending June 2018, Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister for electronics and information technology, told the Rajya Sabha (Parliament’s upper house) on August 3, 2018, as part of an explanation on combating fake news.

“Recently, it has come to the attention of the government of India that a number of disturbing instances causing loss of innocent lives have taken place in various parts of the country,” RS Prasad said in his reply on the issue of misuse of social media and fake news. “These are deeply painful and regrettable, as well as a matter of deep concern for the government.”

Fake news

Facebook blocked the most (956 or 58 per cent) of URLs, under section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, followed by Twitter (25 per cent) and YouTube (9 per cent).

Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000 says websites/pages can be blocked in “defence of India”, its sovereignty, security and integrity, foreign relations, public order and to prevent “incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above”, Prasad said.

Article source : BS