> [local authorities] hiring street performers and “rumor busters” to visit villages to spread public awareness. One such “rumor buster” was killed by a mob Thursday in the eastern state of Tripura.
Their ground problem is clearly not fake news and people being misinformed.
It's a deeply rooted societal problem and it all seems a bit easy to hide under the skirts of 'fake news' and blame whatsapp for these instances.
That said, I think fake news is a lesser issue that still needs addressed. I very highly doubt it will be stopped completely, but I do think the world could do a much better job of educating its citizens along with having competent police forces that respond adequately and investigate such rumors and fake news. Between education and gaining trust from the people, I think these will lessen the effect. Weirdly, some of this stuff might help stop the mobs as well, but maybe not.
And only let people who agree to enforce this sell sims?
That time Whatsapp was not involved at all, yet the rumor spread just the same. This seems to be a case of treating the symptom, and not the problem. For example:
>Sukanta Chakraborty, 33, a tabla musician with a sonorous voice who was paid about $8 a day to travel from village to village in a van equipped with a loudspeaker, warning about the dangers of fake news. He and two others were beset by a mob wielding bricks and bamboo sticks in a crowded market Thursday.
In this case, the mob attacked him for trying to get the mobs to question their accepted beliefs (that child traffickers are rampant, and can be identified through Whatsapp), which is a pattern of behavior found in similarly situated groups through history, for example, the witch trials. Much like the witch trials, there are likely causal explanations for these villager's behaviors. For example, the witch trials are suspected to be a reaction to the citizen's fears of brutal native attacks that were happening around that time.
Perhaps the Indian gov't should look to identify and fix the situation making these people fearful and violent, not just plug up the tubes with legislation that will cause them to revert back to old-fashioned rumor spreading.
The vast majority of witch trials were in Europe, and not New England.
edit: Change "Britain" to "Europe"; citation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_the_early_mode...
