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Everyone is now familiar with the term fake news...

Everyone is now familiar with the term fake news, but few probably thought that the British Royal Family would be profoundly affected by it, as was the case in July 2018. On July 20 bogus reports of Prince Philip’s death spread like wildfire on Twitter leaving HRH Queen Elizabeth “absolutely fuming”, according to those close to her.

Fake news stories continued to circulate in the media, with this phenomenon being said to have influenced both elections and the EU Referendum. 

If the situation is not easy enough already for those wishing to create their own realities, things are likely to get worse.  Experts claim that the truth will be even harder to identify once video lip-syncing technology and artificial intelligence-powered face swapping become readily available for use.

There are efforts to combat this force, however, and one system trying to fight back is one named ‘Logically’, which combines both human intelligence and machine learning in an attempt to uncover misinformation.  It has an in-built bias detector to flag up when a piece of news is potentially too biased to be true news and should soon equip media publishers, journalists and press agencies with grounds on which to question stories and deduce whether fake news generators have put them online through what is being described as ‘artificially engineered serendipity.’ 

‘Logically’ and its fallacy detector work by determining what details should logically appear in a real news story and whether or not there are other details that it is illogical to have included.  This enables a credibility score to be applied to a story, which helps media determine whether to question it, or trust it. 

Yet, undoubtedly, fake news will continue to circulate and a business could find itself sued if it spreads or uses such news, effectively becoming a publisher pushing content down their channels.  Such actions could be viewed dimly by competitors, who could interpret the sharing as an underhand tactic.  Some businesses could also be the victim of a fake news story that harms their reputation, being on the receiving end of reputation damage.

It makes sense to regularly scan the internet for news about your business and create a Google alert, to spot any fake news quickly and quash it.

Insurance available to businesses will cover the legal defence costs of cases brought against a company for what could be viewed as defamation.  Legal expenses cover, and directors and officers cover, are also now becoming more essential than ever, in a world in which court actions are swiftly brought.  This is not all about defence.  If you need to sue a third party, legal expenses cover will help you to pursue a damages’ claim.

Do not take the threat of fake news lightly.  If you need to discuss the protection you need to get in place, please get in touch.