Following the announcement from WhatsApp regarding the launch of a new feature to curb the circulation of fake news, a YouTube video which is a part of the malicious campaign against the jewelry store in Kerala went viral causing them a loss of Rs. 500 crore to the company. According to India Today, Kerala-based Kalyan Jewellers has claimed that fake news on social media led to suffering the loss of business. They have moved to the Kerala High Court seeking supervision of social media websites.
A petition was filed by the company stating that the video which was circulated on social media has defamed the company name which incurred a huge loss to the tune of Rs 500cr.
The video which went viral on social media shows that the store has been raided for practicing fraudulent activity which led to the seizure of the ornaments. The company name and logo has been used in the video to make look like an actual raid. The video has been titled as ‘Fake gold recovered at Kalyan’ ‘Beware of purchasing gold from Kalyan’ ‘Kalyan king of fraud’.
The company confirmed regular inspections are held in all jewelry stores in Kuwait. They said that as part of their inspection few samples were taken by the officials. The inspection has been falsely shown as a raid held for selling fake gold. The Economic Times stated that some ornaments were found broken into bits hence they were taken for testing.
Adding to the petition the company has requested the court to allow them to have greater control and supervision over the social media sites. They stated “How can a platform that does not have control over their own sites be allowed to function in India? It appears The Government of India does not have any control over these sites”.
As a response to the plea, the court has ordered for regulatory mechanism and control to curb the wildfire spread of fake news.
In March Google has announced that it would invest $300 million towards a new initiative called as Google News Initiative to curb the menace of fake news circulation. Henceforth Google and YouTube content will be described as ‘authoritative content’ which will help the users to differentiate between fake news and factual news, reported India Today.
Kalyan Jewellers, a premier jewellery retailer company has more than 120 outlets in India and the Gulf countries and been fighting a month against the accusations made by social media for fraudulent activities. The brand has several high profile ambassadors, including Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, and Nagarjuna.
There is no doubt that social media is a blessing for everyone today, but sometimes due to the nuisance of the miscreants’ people may also have to face a huge loses. There is a need for keeping vigil on the social media to make sure that fake news does not get circulated, but unfortunately there is no mechanism (Human or machine) which can detect the difference between fake and real, and unless until there is no stringent law is made, the possibility of quarantine the fake news from social media will be impossible. In the above case it is very much evident that there was an inspection at the premise of the jeweller which was termed as a raid in the viral video, and there is a very thin line between two and hence till the time a proper and impartial investigation is not done in this case, the truth will not come out. What is your opinion on this? Please share your unbiased views on this serious issue.
