Fake News in Kashmir: A Case Study

While social media is used to proliferate news, it is also used to peddle fake news, rumors and misinformation. There is an upward trend in the circulation of fake news on social media throughout the world. The phenomenon of fake news is as old as the media itself but it has dominated the public discourse since the post-truth era and is directly related to the increase in the usage of social networking sites. The online media sphere of Kashmir is not immune to fake news either. Kashmir is one of the few places where Internet services are often disrupted by government to stop the spread of “misinformation” during the escalation of violence. But it is never clear as what constitutes “misinformation” for the government. The repercussions of fake news in a conflict place can be dangerous given the role it can play in mobilizing people and ideas. This paper looks into how social media is used to spread fake news in Kashmir and who are the players involved in it. It also explores how the absence of any fake news debunking mechanism makes this phenomenon a dangerous thing in conflict torn Kashmir.