It used to be said, with joking irony, “it must be true: I read it in the newspapers”. The obvious implication was that journalists could not be counted on to tell the truth. The irony is double now: old media still take their legal and moral responsibilities to check the facts seriously – as the vast majority always did – while millions today seem to believe whatever pops up on the internet, messaging or social media with no verification whatsoever.
There appears to be no bounds to popular credulousness, which is dangerous at a time when many stories that whizz around online are made up, sometimes benignly for humorous purposes, but frequently malignly, in order to cause damage to individuals, political parties or institutions. It ought to be incontestable that we do indeed live in an age of “fake news”.
It is therefore much to be lamented that some are disputing this on the grounds that they don’t like some of the leaders who rail against this phenomenon. They have Donald Trump in particular in mind, but some so-called strongmen and autocrats have also been called out for using the term “fake news” to undermine allegations against them.
Firstly, there is a growing consensus that this is a deep-seated and widespread problem. The list of world leaders who have demanded action against it goes far beyond Mr Trump. (He, incidentally, may well have good reason to say that some stories peddled about him are fictitious. As the former New Statesman editor Peter Wilby accurately observed: “You can say or write what you like in America and nobody will arrest you.”)
Earlier this month, Emmanuel Macron bemoaned that “thousands of propaganda accounts on social networks are spreading all over the world, in all languages, lies invented to tarnish political officials, personalities, public figures, journalists.” He announced he would be putting forward a law banning misinformation on the internet during elections.
Germany has already implemented a law clamping down on hate speech – most of which consists of false stereotypes which one could count as “fake news” – and illegal content. And Britain’s Theresa May has also recently authorised the creation of a rapid response unit to “deal quickly with disinformation and reclaim a fact-based public debate”, as a government spokesman put it.
But secondly, there is ample proof that fake news is being actively propagated, including by people who must know the untruth of what they are passing on. To take Malaysia as an example: there are some MPs warning direly that the country is at risk of going bankrupt - when the World Bank estimates that the country’s GDP grew by 5.8 per cent last year and says its economy “is progressing from a position of strength.”
Claims are still being made that the Barisan Nasional government won the last general election by importing 40,000 Bangladeshis to vote for them – even though no evidence of their existence has ever been produced. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was perfectly justified in saying: “Until today, no one has even seen them or their shadow. Enough of the lies”, but unfortunately there are still otherwise sensible people who think the story – which gets repeated on social media and the net - is true.
Another opposition leader keeps saying that Malaysia has become “one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world” – despite the fact that no such list exists that mentions Malaysia; and nor would it, given that the country is in the top third of the world’s least corrupt countries according Transparency International’s annual list.
Robust political debate is one thing, and as part of that highly selective interpretations can still be technically correct – the GBP350 million that the Leave campaign said the UK could reclaim from the EU each week after Brexit may have been widely regarded as misleading, for instance, but it was true in terms of it being the gross figure that would no longer be under EU control.
But distorting or playing fast and loose with the facts, or telling outright lies, is another. If they gain currency, that has a long-term pernicious effect. The truth becomes subjective. Alternative realities that defy the laws of logic become accepted. Political debate descends into name-calling and insult throwing, if it can even be said to exist when there is no longer any shared agreement on what constitutes the facts.
If they are to be protected, that will mean having to clamp down harder on those who peddle disinformation, either deliberately or carelessly. Free speech advocates who instinctively oppose any moves to restrict their liberty to say or publish anything they like are mistaken. They are privileging the right to tell lies, often harmful ones, over the necessary guardianship of the truth.
That so many countries – from France and Britain, to Malaysia and the Philippines - are waking up to the need to be proactive about combatting fake news is to be welcomed. This is what will actually save free speech that deserves the name. That it is even incumbent on us to “reclaim a fact-based public debate”, as the UK spokesman put it, is shocking enough as it is. Call out the fake news complainers who are guilty of disseminating it themselves, for sure. But do nothing to undermine the fight for the facts. It is nothing less than one of the most important battles of our time.
Sholto Byrnes is a senior fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
if you go
The flights
Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
The hotel
Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
The tour
Makan Makan Walking group tours costs from SG $90 (Dh245) per person for about three hours. Tailor-made tours can be arranged. For details go to www.woknstroll.com.sg
The specs
Powertrain: Single electric motor
Power: 201hp
Torque: 310Nm
Transmission: Single-speed auto
Battery: 53kWh lithium-ion battery pack (GS base model); 70kWh battery pack (GF)
Touring range: 350km (GS); 480km (GF)
Price: From Dh129,900 (GS); Dh149,000 (GF)
On sale: Now
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
CHATGPT ENTERPRISE FEATURES
• Enterprise-grade security and privacy
• Unlimited higher-speed GPT-4 access with no caps
• Longer context windows for processing longer inputs
• Advanced data analysis capabilities
• Customisation options
• Shareable chat templates that companies can use to collaborate and build common workflows
• Analytics dashboard for usage insights
• Free credits to use OpenAI APIs to extend OpenAI into a fully-custom solution for enterprises
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PlayStation 2 to 5
Rating: 5/5
Race card
1.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
2pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 84,000 (D) 1,400m
2.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,200m
3pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 100,000 (D) 1.950m
3.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 76,000 (D) 1,800m
4pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,600m
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 68,000 (D) 1,000m
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India squad for fourth and fifth Tests
Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rahul, Shaw, Pujara, Rahane (vc), Karun, Karthik (wk), Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Thakur, Vihari
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
Confirmed bouts (more to be added)
Cory Sandhagen v Umar Nurmagomedov
Nick Diaz v Vicente Luque
Michael Chiesa v Tony Ferguson
Deiveson Figueiredo v Marlon Vera
Mackenzie Dern v Loopy Godinez
Tickets for the August 3 Fight Night, held in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, went on sale earlier this month, through www.etihadarena.ae and www.ticketmaster.ae.
Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
Barbie
Director: Greta Gerwig
Stars: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan 2 (Vecino 65', Barella 83')
Verona 1 (Verre 19' pen)
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)
Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15
Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)
Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49
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Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices