The Mahabharat is not only a great Indian epic, but also offers insights into modern governance. Stories from it can always be related to issues afflicting us in various fields, be it business administration or domestic or foreign policy.
Let’s look at one such story relating to the war, which certainly offers lessons to the government on how to tackle misinformation on social media platforms.
During the battle of Kurukshetra, the Pandav brothers were in a real fix when faced with the raining arrows of their teacher Dronacharya, who fought on the side of the Kauravs, the estranged cousins of the Pandavs. The skilled Arjun, who had Krishna as his charioteer, was also not able to stand up to the might of his teacher.
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It was then that Krishna offered strategic advice to the Pandav brothers. He said that to overpower Dronacharya, his spirit would need to be demobilised. The teacher’s weakness was his son, Ashwatthama, who was also in the battlefield fighting on the side of the Kauravs. Krishna suggested that the rumour of Ashwatthama being killed in battle be circulated. This would cause immense grief to Dronacharya, who would then lay down his arms so that the Pandavs could overpower him.
It was not difficult to carry out this plan without actually killing Ashwatthama. There was an elephant in the battlefield on the side of the Pandavs with the same name. The mighty Bheem immediately killed the elephant and announced that Ashwatthama had been killed. This alarmed Dronacharya, but he would not believe it as his son was not the kind to be killed easily. To give the false story credibility, Yudhishthir, who was known for always speaking the truth, was brought into the picture and asked to relay the news to Dronacharya. Yudhishthir complied with the plan but after taking the name of Ashwatthama, muttered under his breath, “the elephant”, which was inaudible to Dronacharya.
Hearing the news from a trusted source like Yudhishthir, Dronacharya was grief-stricken and laid down his arms. Seizing the opportunity, Drishtadyumn, the commander of Pandav army, killed him.
What’s interesting is that all this while, Ashwatthama was also in the battlefield, but somewhere else. There were no instant communication channels those days through which Dronacharya could have instantly confirmed the news. It will not be wrong to conclude that apart from other factors, misinformation also had a role to play in the victory of Pandavs.
This story seems to be getting replayed today frequently as misinformation flows, particularly through deepfakes, on social media platforms. This has become a great cause of concern for the government also. Deepfakes are worrisome because they impersonate the voice and face of a real person, and does so in a way that makes it very difficult to verify. In these times when the profiles of almost every individual are present on social media, creating deepfakes is as easy as surfing the internet.
To check the menace, the government has issued several advisories to social media platforms—any misleading, fake or harmful content should be removed by the intermediaries within 36 hours of being flagged.
While it’s true that this is more a reactive solution than preventive, it’s still understandable as laws on AI and deepfakes cannot emerge overnight. It’s fair therefore, that in the interim, social media firms be asked to be more vigilant and proactive in taking down such content once flagged.
While the overarching Digital India Act, which is supposed to replace the Information Technology Act, 2000, will take quite some time before it can be put in place considering its expansive scope, the government has said that it will soon come out with certain rules to check the menace of deepfakes.
Understandably, the government needs a little time to come up with a set of rules, but there’s one step which can be taken immediately to prevent deepfakes from going viral and causing harm. The government should immediately ask social media firms to remove misleading, fake, or harmful content within two hours of being flagged against the current time limit of 36 hours. In today’s world of fast-paced communication, in 36 hours, the damage is already done. If Dronacharya had 36 hours to verify the news, the course of the battle may have been different.
Just like news media, even social media platforms are in the business of disseminating information, so there’s no reason to give them 36 hours to correct an error. Newspapers and television channels do not have such luxury. The moment an error has been pointed out by an aggrieved party, corrections are made immediately on their websites/channels. Social media platforms need to be extra vigilant because unlike news media, they disseminate third party content and are also given legal immunity under the Safe Harbour clause.
There was another weakness of Dronacharya which led to him to lose his life—the public knowledge of his love for his son. Here, the lesson today is to keep one’s personal data safe, something which the government has addressed through the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Now it needs to act fast on social media rules.
Rishi Raj, rishi.raj@expressindia.com
The Mahabharat is not only a great Indian epic, but also offers insights into modern governance. Stories from it can always be related to issues afflicting us in various fields, be it business administration or domestic or foreign policy.
Let’s look at one such story relating to the war, which certainly offers lessons to the government on how to tackle misinformation on social media platforms.
During the battle of Kurukshetra, the Pandav brothers were in a real fix when faced with the raining arrows of their teacher Dronacharya, who fought on the side of the Kauravs, the estranged cousins of the Pandavs. The skilled Arjun, who had Krishna as his charioteer, was also not able to stand up to the might of his teacher.
It was then that Krishna offered strategic advice to the Pandav brothers. He said that to overpower Dronacharya, his spirit would need to be demobilised. The teacher’s weakness was his son, Ashwatthama, who was also in the battlefield fighting on the side of the Kauravs. Krishna suggested that the rumour of Ashwatthama being killed in battle be circulated. This would cause immense grief to Dronacharya, who would then lay down his arms so that the Pandavs could overpower him.
It was not difficult to carry out this plan without actually killing Ashwatthama. There was an elephant in the battlefield on the side of the Pandavs with the same name. The mighty Bheem immediately killed the elephant and announced that Ashwatthama had been killed. This alarmed Dronacharya, but he would not believe it as his son was not the kind to be killed easily. To give the false story credibility, Yudhishthir, who was known for always speaking the truth, was brought into the picture and asked to relay the news to Dronacharya. Yudhishthir complied with the plan but after taking the name of Ashwatthama, muttered under his breath, “the elephant”, which was inaudible to Dronacharya.
Hearing the news from a trusted source like Yudhishthir, Dronacharya was grief-stricken and laid down his arms. Seizing the opportunity, Drishtadyumn, the commander of Pandav army, killed him.
What’s interesting is that all this while, Ashwatthama was also in the battlefield, but somewhere else. There were no instant communication channels those days through which Dronacharya could have instantly confirmed the news. It will not be wrong to conclude that apart from other factors, misinformation also had a role to play in the victory of Pandavs.
This story seems to be getting replayed today frequently as misinformation flows, particularly through deepfakes, on social media platforms. This has become a great cause of concern for the government also. Deepfakes are worrisome because they impersonate the voice and face of a real person, and does so in a way that makes it very difficult to verify. In these times when the profiles of almost every individual are present on social media, creating deepfakes is as easy as surfing the internet.
To check the menace, the government has issued several advisories to social media platforms—any misleading, fake or harmful content should be removed by the intermediaries within 36 hours of being flagged.
While it’s true that this is more a reactive solution than preventive, it’s still understandable as laws on AI and deepfakes cannot emerge overnight. It’s fair therefore, that in the interim, social media firms be asked to be more vigilant and proactive in taking down such content once flagged.
While the overarching Digital India Act, which is supposed to replace the Information Technology Act, 2000, will take quite some time before it can be put in place considering its expansive scope, the government has said that it will soon come out with certain rules to check the menace of deepfakes.
Understandably, the government needs a little time to come up with a set of rules, but there’s one step which can be taken immediately to prevent deepfakes from going viral and causing harm. The government should immediately ask social media firms to remove misleading, fake, or harmful content within two hours of being flagged against the current time limit of 36 hours. In today’s world of fast-paced communication, in 36 hours, the damage is already done. If Dronacharya had 36 hours to verify the news, the course of the battle may have been different.
Just like news media, even social media platforms are in the business of disseminating information, so there’s no reason to give them 36 hours to correct an error. Newspapers and television channels do not have such luxury. The moment an error has been pointed out by an aggrieved party, corrections are made immediately on their websites/channels. Social media platforms need to be extra vigilant because unlike news media, they disseminate third party content and are also given legal immunity under the Safe Harbour clause.
There was another weakness of Dronacharya which led to him to lose his life—the public knowledge of his love for his son. Here, the lesson today is to keep one’s personal data safe, something which the government has addressed through the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Now it needs to act fast on social media rules.
Rishi Raj, rishi.raj@expressindia.com
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