IS the fake news production a business?
Asian journalists who participated in a seminar on “Misinformation and fake news” held parallel to the World Press Freedom Day celebration in Jakarta, Indonesia, last week were confronted with this question. As more fake news come out in their countries, the more these operations looked organized, not by a few individuals but by business entities.
People thought these fake news and trolls were done mostly by individuals who wanted to support a person or interest through those means. When their operation becomes a business, that is another matter and there are accountabilities in an enterprise.
An Indonesia journalist shared how a fellow journalist was known to churn out fake news in an operation that included an “office” and his hiring of five employees. For this person, his fake news has become an enterprise. Fake news as a business became an eye-opener during the seminar held under the WAN-Ifra’s Strengthening Media and Society program parallel to the World Press Freedom Day activities. Country representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines presented their media freedom struggles to address misinformation.
The Indonesia situation may not be unique as there are in other countries such persons – media workers or former journalists – involved in fake news or trolls. The assumption was that the fake news was done by individuals who probably reported to a coordinator and that the work was borne out of personal conviction to support a person or an interest.
China had its “50 cent party” that reportedly paid 50 cents for every troll posted in defense of the government or against its critics.
When the process involves compensation for every article or troll, accounting of who did what and where, overhead costs and issuance of receipts, the production of fake news becomes a business.
As a business, it must have the required permits, it has to pay taxes and remit employee contributions to the Social Security System and PhilHealth, among others.
Fake news producers are hard to go after, much more prosecute. Possible action against them would be fraud, slander or for damages, all requiring tedious documentation and evidence gathering. A victim of fake news could ignore it and just hope people are intelligent enough to see the bull in it. But the traditional way of having a “no-reaction” reaction has been found to be ineffective in stopping fake news and trolls. The new advice is to take action by declaring the news is fake and letting others know or by answering trolls to bring them to a sensible discussion.
For those who are targets of fake news, they can take legal action or they can treat fake news producers as businesses accountable to government and society. Do they pay taxes? Are they registered as business entities? Do they issue receipts and remit employee contributions?
The mafia was taken down after federal investigators focused on their accounting records, not on the killings. Similarly, and as a wild idea, a way to stop fake news could be to go after their businesses.