Previously, it was possible to become a journalist or a source of information only after certain actions, training or education, but now, due to the smart phones that are available in hand, everyone can become a journalist. It has many advantages and some disadvantages.

“Twentieth century German philosopher Havermas has a famous philosophical book – Communication Theory. The only gist of that book is that any information and communication comes with interest, that is, whatever is brought out for public consumption by any means, interest is attached to it.

This theory seems simple at first glance, but it gives a direction to the way we look at any information. Aarti Chatout, Deputy General Manager and senior communicator of Nepal Television, says, “Nowadays there are three main sources of information and communication, those sources are business groups, political parties and media houses run by the government. The main interest of the business group is business and profit, the interest of the political parties is to gain power by collecting the votes of the people and the interest of the government is to stay in power by giving right or wrong information to the people and the ruling party wins the next election.

Therefore, he argued that no information or news can remain untouched by the interests of these three main groups. Explaining it further, she said, “In the last phase, so many media houses, especially television channels, were opened in India’s Jharkhand. Behind them, there were business groups that operate mines, whose main objective is to fulfill their commercial interests by fixing or destroying the opponents.”

If we look at this in the context of Nepal, there is no doubt that any of the media houses here are operated by these three groups, barring some exceptions. In general, these three groups can be considered to be following the general religion that the communication world should follow and conveying information.

However, it is hard to believe that they are giving their selfless information especially during elections or any other commercial purpose. All this applies from the perspective of established media houses, but now the sources of information are not only established media houses. With the development of technology, social networks have come to dominate.

Previously, it was possible to become a journalist or a source of information only after certain actions, training or education, but now, due to the smart phones that are available in hand, everyone can become a journalist. It has many advantages and some disadvantages. According to the data provided by the Nepal Telecommunication Authority in 2022, 136 percent of the total population has a mobile SIM, it is not clear how many are actively using it or not, but this is an indication that the entire population has reached.

Similarly, according to recently published information, there are 4.95 billion people using the Internet worldwide. That is 62.5 percent of the total global population. It has also been seen that 92.1 percent of all Internet users spend some time on their mobile phones.

Similarly, the number of social network users is also increasing day by day, it is 4.62 billion and that is 58.4 percent of the total population on earth.

Regarding Nepal, looking at the data available till 2017, it seems that internet users have reached 57 percent. It can be estimated that this figure has reached 80 percent in the last five years. (Source: digital rights activist and advocate Santoshbabu Sigdel).

Currently, information is divided into two types, false information, one is false and the other is misleading (disinformation) and the other type is malicious information. All these may be false or true but it does more harm than good and the possibility of misleading public opinion remains the same. We have completed the local level elections two months ago and the government has already announced the date of federal and state parliament elections on 4th November.

In such a situation, the competing parties and candidates want as many votes as possible to sway the public opinion in their favor, for that we have a motto to use bribery, bribery, punishment and discrimination to win, this means that anything should be done or can be done to win.

It is an established belief of the media world that it should carry the voice of the voiceless. The principles of ABC should be followed while releasing any news or information. That is, A means accurate, B means balance, no one should be accused of the same thing, the person on whom it is written should have his say, and C means credible. There should be a reliable basis to confirm what is said.

This principle should generally be followed by established media houses. If they do not follow it and there is a complaint about it, there is a government body like the press council that will make it aware or take action and the body that forces them to follow the code of conduct is the Federation of Journalists. But since social networks are run on personal posts, there is no way that established norms of communication are applied.

Content posted in this way goes viral faster and can cause not only confusion but also harm among the common people. Maoist supremo Prachanda claims that we are the promoters of secularism, federalism, republicanism and inclusiveness in public programs, but he only half-said what he said in another context, and he called it federalism.

Tha was presented on social networks as anti-inclusive. The same has happened in the case of KP Oli. He said that he does not like federalism and inclusiveness at all. Those who have not heard the whole statement, if they look at that part, they will form a different opinion.

He would definitely consider him as an anti-federalist. The use of social media seems to be the most used as a means of spreading hatred. Nowadays, the trend of insulting and defaming another caste or sect against one caste or sect has increased. In the last stage, the expression of other castes against Bahun can be seen and heard very much. Protest also has its own style and tradition. We are in the civilized era of the 21st century. Therefore, you can express your displeasure in a civilized way, but social networks are promoting it.

However, Google and Facebook have removed or blocked such misleading and especially hateful expressions. I sent him a warning that someone I know had made hate speech against a few too many arms and told him that his content would be removed, but it couldn’t be that easily or simply. Because social network providers are mostly American and TikTok is in China.

According to the information, if there is any hateful expression and if there is a complaint against it, the providers in America take action, but it is seen that the provider in China does not care much.

The question of what to do in such a situation arises, digital rights activists say that people should be aware of the information that is coming from any medium. They say that you should find out how reliable it is and like or share it only after confirming about its source, sender or medium. In our country where digital literacy has not yet begun, the question arises as to how many social media users do this. So far, all these things seem to have been brought under the cyber law, especially those who spread hate speech, but to effectively regulate it, how to bring together the service providers who are far away from us seems to be a big challenge.

It is also seen that especially European countries have fined billions of dollars to such providers for violating their laws. In this case, first the user should be careful and for that digital literacy should be made widespread. It seems that the government should also take necessary steps to regulate.