Bangladesh, Italy to jointly combat migration-related disinformation: Arafat
Italy will share their relevant laws with Bangladesh, he says
Bangladesh and Italy will work together to prevent disinformation campaigns about migration on social media, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat has said.
Briefing reporters after a meeting with Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Antonio Alessandro at the Secretariat today, Arafat said, "A group of human traffickers lures people by spreading various types of misinformation through social media. False information is spread through the dissemination of fake news. Falling into the trap, people face various problems, including even life risks."
He said not only the victims of human trafficking, but also people from various sectors also fall prey to disinformation, fake news and rumors on social media. In this regard, a discussion has been held with the Italian ambassador on how Bangladesh and Italy can work together to deal with it.
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Arafat further said in a bid to combat disinformation, Italy will share their relevant laws with Bangladesh, and to support the initiatives Bangladesh takes to prevent disinformation.
He said disinformation is the underlying cause of human trafficking. Misinformation is not just about politics, common people from different strata of society fall in danger due to misinformation.
Many ordinary people fall prey to misinformation and choose the path of illegal migration. That is why there needs to be a consensus between Bangladesh, its friend nations and stakeholders within the country, to ensure accurate information, Arafat said further.
Mentioning that Bangladesh and Italy can have mutual exchange in other fields such as films and culture, Arafat said during the meeting, the Italian ambassador pledged to collaborate in order to showcase Bangladesh at the Venice Film Festival.
Responding to a question from journalists regarding Bangladesh's ranking in the world media index, the state minister said, "I welcome the initiative of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to publish the index. But the credibility of this index will be undermined if there are systematic weaknesses. I would request them to remove the systematic weaknesses for the sake of credibility and verify the information after taking it."
