The Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission has launched a new website to battle fake news. Sebenarnya.my is effectively Snopes.com, albeit catering to the Malay speaking crowd.
Minister of Communications and Multimedia Salleh Said Keruak explained that this is part of the government’s efforts to combat fake news, and to ensure that the public remains well informed.
A quick glance through the site shows news stories going back to 2011, and it looks like the MCMC has put a lot of effort into debunking stories that have been appearing on social media. It looks like most of the fake news being fought has been found on Facebook, although there are efforts to fight the problem on just about every platform.
More importantly, Sebenarnya.my sticks to the facts and provides links to news stories that clear up the matter. There’s very little commentary on the fake news at the moment; with little context provided for what we’re looking at. Then again, the target audience is more likely to be exposed to the type of content being debunked.
Sebenarnya.my is still rather bare bones, but it is a very good start in the battle against fake news. We can only hope that the idea catches on and the MCMC’s efforts reach the same recognition as Snopes has for the English speaking side of the internet.
[Source: Sebenarnya.my]
