KATHMANDU, Dec 11: Prime Minister and Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has refuted allegations of his involvement in the massive corruption in the Ncell share sale case. Speaking during a meeting with Press Center Nepal officials at the party's central office in Paris Danda on Monday, the prime minister expressed objection to the spreading of misinformation against the government and vowed to retaliate against those who spread misinformation.

In a world where misinformation and fake news can spread quickly, it's obligatory for journalism — also identified as the Fourth Estate — to maintain a level of truth and accuracy, making sure that people have access to well-verified and reliable information. This is an important aspect of democracy, as it allows citizens to make informed decisions and form opinions, essential for a healthy democracy.

Neil Young’s music will be removed from Spotify at his request, following the veteran rock star’s protest over the streaming service airing a popular podcast that featured a figure criticized for spreading COVID misinformation.

The coronavirus is not the only epidemic ravaging the nation, the epidemic of misinformation has also peaked, and is getting stronger. We have become more outraged, narcissistic, polarized and misinformed.

Rampant disinformation and extreme politicization has raised the risk of underuse of anti-Covid vaccines.

KATHMANDU, April 23: Nepal Tarun Dal (NTD), the youth wing of the main opposition Nepali Congress, on Thursday demanded the immediate release of former government secretary Bhim Upadhayay.

When I was a college student in the early 1990s, the daily bus ride was fun and oftentimes a curious event. Among the regular beggars, singers and pickpockets encountered in the buses and bus terminals were the hawkers for newspapers, cheap magazines, and booklets. They would mix the names and surnames of the people in petty news and try to create the name of a leader or a celebrity. Then they would shout about the fabricated event. If they shouted 'Bhattarai is dead’, people would buy their stuff and would end up realizing that someone called Bhattarai had died in a hospital or a road accident. They mixed common events such as death, marriage, divorce, and illness with the names of the bigwig to create a sensation. But the prospective reader first thought about some big personality and bought the item. By the time they realized, the hawker would have exited the bus and the bus itself would be 3-4 stations down the route. An example of classic, non-digital, pre-internet, pre-social media fake news.

KATHMANDU, April 19: A video of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli talking about the coronavirus has gone viral on social media platforms. During a video conference meeting held last week with the chief ministers of seven provinces, PM Oli is seen explaining the nature of coronavirus, its treatment and transmission methods.

KATHMANDU, March 31: At a time when the market is rife with fake news and rumors about COVID-19, the government on Monday said that those creating and circulating misinformation will face legal action as per the existing law.

As coronavirus is spreading across the world, with rising number of infections and fatalities in European countries as well, and as it is wrecking havoc on global economy, it has posed challenges on several fronts—economy, public health and even livelihood. A new form of challenge has also emerged: That of myths and misinformation on how people contract COVID-19 and what they should do to avoid it.  People have created such myths out of fear and panic.  Such myths are good only so long as they encourage people to adopt preventive measures but can also drive the people to take measures that could potentially harm their own health. One such myth circulating in social media recently is about cow urine. Recently, an Indian lawmaker reportedly recommended that people should consume cow urine and dung to avoid infection. In Nepal too, including in Kathmandu Valley, such myths are making rounds.

JOHANNESBURG – According to fact-checkers at the Washington Post, US President Donald Trump has made more than 13,000 false or misleading claims since his inauguration. It is no wonder some people doubt that the fact-checking of politicians’ claims is an answer to the problems of this misinformation age.

The immediacy demanded by social media platforms creates an environment where there’s a proclivity to ‘have a say’ before the issue runs cold

Anyone critically following views and opinions peddled by media in Nepal, including social media and major news media, must have sensed this. The information landscape is flooded with half-information and misinformation. Emotion prevails. Reason has taken the backstage. It is easy during such times to lose foresight and context. The costs of decisions made during periods of half-information can be very high and irrevocable.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli seems bent on misinforming people to hide inefficiency of his administration which is already failing to live up to its promise on development, prosperity, transparency, rule of law and good governance.

Facebook has identified and banned hundreds of accounts, groups and pages engaged in misleading political behavior, a far larger discovery than a “sophisticated” effort it reported three weeks ago with great fanfare.