The National Department of Communication and Digital Technologies has published regulations to address the spread of fake news. These regulations have significant implications for the exercise of information rights.
Fake News during the COVID-19 Pandemic
During the national lockdown, all legislation remains subject to the Constitution and the rights entrenched in it. It is a criminal offence for any person to publish any statement with the intention to deceive others about Covid-19, the infection status of any person or any measure taken by the government to address Covid-19.
Spreading fake news about coronavirus is an offence punishable by a fine, six months’ imprisonment, or both.
Here are some ways to avoid fake news:
- Use the criteria for evaluating information: Accuracy, Authority, Objective, Currency, and Coverage.
- Look at the domain name and the URL: News organizations typically own their own domain name.
- Check the credentials of the author.
- Check the links of the article: See if the information leads to credible sources.
- Look at the date and see when it was written.
- Look at the comments that are listed below the story.
- Open a second window and research the claims that are written in the story.
- Check your own biases: Sometimes we tend to look at information in the prism of our own beliefs.
