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Excerpts: Fake news a destructive danger via social media December
Excerpts: Fake news a destructive danger via social media December 26, 2016
SOURCE:Naharnet(Lebanon)26 Dec.’16:”Duped by Fake News,Pakistan Minister
Mskes Nuke Threat to Israel”by Agence Francc Presse
SUBJECT: Fake news a destructive danger via social media
FULL TEXT:Pakistan’s defence minister has threatened to retaliate in kind to
any Israeli nuclear strike after apparently being tricked by a fake news
site into a confrontation on social media.
Khawaja Asif was responding to an invented story published on the website
AWDNews and headlined: “Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground
troops into Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a
nuclear attack.”
“Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria
against Daesh (Islamic State).Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state
too” the Pakistani minister tweeted Friday[23] Dec].
His missive prompted a clarification from Israel’s Ministry of Defense,
which responded to him on Saturday[Dec 24]:
“@KhawajaMAsif The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Yaalon re Pakistan
was never said,” adding: “KhawajaMAsif reports referred to by the Pakistani
Def Min are entirely false”.
Israel has a policy of ambiguity in relation to its nuclear arsenal, neither
confirming nor denying its existence, but is widely believed to be an atomic
power.
Pakistan, which conducted its first nuclear test in 1998, is believed by
analysts to have around 120 nuclear weapons and the fastest growing
stockpile.
Mainly Muslim Pakistan has no diplomatic ties with Israel.
Asif was widely mocked for his blunder.
“Our nuclear program is too serious a business to be left to
Twitter-addicted politicians”, said prominent TV journalist Nusrat Javeed.
There is a rising tide of fake articles being widely shared on social media.
Earlier this month a rifle-wielding man entered a pizza restaurant in
Washington, saying he wanted to investigate a fake news story that the
establishment was a centre for child abduction linked to failed US
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Last week Google said it was working to refine its algorithm to weed out
“non-authoritative” information after a British news report showed a
Holocaust denial website was the top result when users asked “Did the
Holocaust happen?”
===========
Sue Lerner – Associate, IMRA
Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=71944
