National workshop on combating digital disinformation held
Institute for Environment and Development (IED) organized a national workshop on combating digital disinformation at CIRDAP, Dhaka on January 5, 2022 with the participation of 20 selected TCS members from Jashore and Mymensingh areas. Mr. Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, State Minister of Social Welfare was the chief guest in the workshop. About 50 other participants like Government officials, IT experts, Journalists, Professionals, Teachers, Lawyers, Youth, Students and Development activists attended in the workshop.
The participants strongly expressed that the youth of Bangladesh need to identify disinformation and fake news which have become prevalent in the society recently obstructing the free flow of necessary quality information.
Dr. Shantanu Majumder, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Dhaka, mentioned that ‘The most prioritized target audience of disinformation is the youth. They are a vulnerable population and it is important for us to make sure they are able to distinguish the difference of the authentic and the fake information’. The impact of disinformation ‘is absolutely pervasive’ across the society, he said, adding that this can lead to massive security implications that results the social destabilization.
Replying to a question about what to do when there is an institutional deficiency in providing authentic information, he emphasized that the youth should not feel powerless when it comes to tackling these challenges and that they should take the firm initiative as the nation’s future generation of leaders to pin point the problem. He also emphasized the need for learning to discern for identifying genuine news.
Mr. Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, State minister of Social Welfare was attending the workshop as the chief guest. He said, “Fake news and disinformation are a severe deterrence to the progress of any nation, and it can act as a major threat to society if not dealt now. So we need to take some immediate action and obviously, young people can play an important role against digital disinformation.” The Honorable Minister said, “During the COVID period a revolutionary progress has been made in our communication sector. We have done a lot of important work online even when we stay in abroad, our communication system was not stopped for a second in the pandemic period.” he added.
“Many people are involved in spreading disinformation in social media. In most cases, disinformation spread about religious issues. Everyone must work together to prevent disinformation.” the minister added.
Sania Akter, Assistant Professor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman University of Science and Technology; Jibonanondo Jayanto, lawyer and activist; Gita Adhikary, socio-economic specialist of Oxfam in Bangladesh; Md Zakaria, Senior Program Manager of The Asia Foundation, Nazmul Ahsan from Action Aid also spoke on the workshop, among others.
IED Executive Director Numan Ahmed Khan presided over the workshop and Tarique Hossain conducted the session.
The outcomes of the workshop are as follows:
- 20 TCS members of 4 working areas got the opportunity to explain about their activities and their learning on that national stage that was highly impressed by all the all the participants and appreciated to continue their efforts.
- All the participants realized this social movement is necessary to spread across the country.
- TCS members can lead and facilitate the training on combating digital disinformation in other parts of the country.
- Creating open and transparent mechanism for countries to track progress towards achievements of the good governance.