Earlier this month the BBC aired an informed and informative weeklong series on disinformation and fake news, «a global problem,» as they rightly put it, «challenging the way we share information and perceive the world around us.» 

What’s real? What’s distortion? The series teaches us. I watched as many of the episodes in this series as I could, and the rest I followed on the BBC website. In one episode we learn how «Nigerian police say false information and incendiary images on Facebook have contributed to more than a dozen recent killings in Plateau State – an area already torn by ethnic violence.»

In another episode, we learn how in Egypt fake news becomes a weapon of choice to crush dissent. In yet another piece we learn how «smartphones are making it easier for millions of Indians to communicate and share messages on social media. But misinformation is spreading fast and can often turn deadly.»

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