Experts urge mechanisms to counter disinformation, fake news

News Desk

The speakers at a conference on Saturday underlined the importance of introducing a robust mechanism in the country to counter disinformation and curbing the dissemination of fake news. They also highlighted how the information has been weaponized and Pakistan battles the challenge of disinformation at the hands of the west and its eastern neighbour India.

A national conference titled “Global Politics in the Age of Disinformation: Where Pakistan Stands” was organized under the auspices of the Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution (IICR), an Islamabad-based think tank.

IICR Executive Director Sabah Aslam expounded on the spread of misinformation and disinformation as part of the fifth-generation warfare.

Legal Director at CMS Cameron McKenna Hassan Aslam Shad underscored that disinformation lawfare was the most sinister form of lawfare.

He said that the people inadvertently become vehicles for dissemination and transfer of disinformation, making the entire state vulnerable.

He concluded by recommending that Pakistan should develop a mechanism to counter disinformation by establishing a robust mechanism of state machinery to curb fake news and disinformation.

Policy consultant, Director of Geopolitical Research at Command Eleven Shahid Raza termed the information operations as the extensions of the hybrid domain, working in tandem with the kinetic operations.

Raza also underlined the threat posed by India’s state-sponsored propaganda targeting Pakistan in more than 90 countries.

He added that multiple international networks carry out sophisticated attacks and try to sow seeds of hatred within Pakistan’s close allies and friendly states, particularly Turkey for its stance on Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He also presented a counter disinformation model, aimed at curbing disinformation by identifying the constituencies of disinformation, deploying and tracking response, and deployment of contingencies.

Chief Executive Officer at WiXeman Global Noaman Abdul Majid explained the effects of disinformation on a state’s economy.

Abdul Majid highlighted that disinformation has far-reaching consequences leading to almost crippling of trades to even causing substantial harm to human lives. He concluded by recommending that legislation be passed so as to enable swift action to curb disinformation and misinformation.

Dr Salma Malik said that disinformation is targeted at the brains i.e. the intelligentsia, rather than the body i.e. masses.  She also underscored that an honest narration of history was a viable tool for nation-building, rather than a socially engineered or selective account of history.

Dr Amna Mahmood urged the government of Pakistan to launch a mass sensitization campaign to limit the menace of fake news, misinformation and disinformation. She further said that to begin with, the students from universities should be involved in counter disinformation dialogues and campaigns.

Advocate Supreme Court India, Executive Director Legal Forum for Kashmir Nasir Qadri Advocate shed light on the vicious triangle of misinformation, disinformation, and Hate Speech (MDH) which he referred to as prominent types of ‘weaponized’ information.

He recommended that there should be a clearer understanding of the main barriers to and challenges in incorporating consideration of MDH, and a robust policy framework must be enacted to curb this vicious triangle.