Alt News#Pratik Sinha

Alt News was founded in Ahmedabad{{cite web|url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/stop-misinformation-ask-questions-interview-alt-news-founder-pratik-sinha-100489|title=To stop misinformation, ask questions: Interview with Alt News founder Pratik Sinha|work=The News Minute|date=22 April 2019 }} by Pratik Sinha, a former software engineer and son of Mukul Sinha, who was a lawyer and the founder-president of Jan Sangharsh Manch.{{cite web|url=http://www.livemint.com/Politics/b8AgLS4EO2P24wmuKxsq5M/Gujarat-riots-activist-Mukul-Sinha-dies-at-63.html|title=Gujarat riots activist Mukul Sinha dies at 63|last=Sen|first=Shreeja|date=12 May 2014|website=livemint.com|access-date=7 February 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/664314/mukul-sinha-self-effacing-modi-opponent-and-labour-organiser-who-disliked-being-called-a-leader|title=Mukul Sinha, self-effacing Modi opponent and labour organiser who disliked being called a leader|last=Janmohamed|first=Zahir|website=scroll.in|access-date=7 February 2018}} Pratik Sinha became interested in exposing fake news when he began working with his activist parents in India. He had followed the rise of fake news as early as 2013 but was moved to start the website after realizing the impact of social media in 2016, when four Dalit boys were flogged for skinning a dead cow in Una, Gujarat. He quit freelancing as a software engineer in 2016 and founded Alt News the next year.

Sinha has allegedly received threats to his life from fugitive underworld don Ravi Pujari, demanding that he stop producing content.{{cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/news-website-owner-gets-threat-call-from-gangster-4562887/|title=News website owner gets threat call from 'gangster'|date=10 March 2017|work=The Indian Express|access-date=7 November 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/mukul-sinhas-son-gets-threat-call-from-pujari/articleshow/57583310.cms|title=Mukul Sinha's son gets threat call from 'Pujari'|work=The Times of India|access-date=9 November 2017}}

In July 2022, co-founder Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly "hurting religious sentiments".{{Cite web |date=2022-06-27 |title=Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair arrested for 'hurting religious sentiments' |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/alt-news-co-founder-mohammad-zubair-arrested-for-hurting-religious-sentiments-101656340785690.html |access-date=2022-07-02 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}} The charges under IPC section 295A and section 67 of the IT Act were pressed for a satirical tweet he made in 2018, in which he shared an unedited screenshot from a 1983 Indian comedy film Kissi Se Na Kehna by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.{{cite news |title=Kissi Se Na Kehna! Mohammed Zubair Arrested for Tweeting Photo from 1983 Hindi Film |url=https://thewire.in/communalism/kissi-se-na-kehna-mohammed-zubair-arrested-for-tweeting-photo-from-1983-hindi-film |access-date=8 July 2022 |work=The Wire |date=28 June 2022}} The tweet was complained to be disregarding of Hindu sentiments by an anonymous Twitter user. Journalist bodies, human rights organizations, and the political opposition perceived the arrest as a revenge against his role in the 2022 BJP Muhammad remarks controversy and Alt News' work of fighting disinformation in the society, while noting of diminishing press freedom in Modi's India.See links below

• {{Cite news |last=Yasir |first=Sameer |date=2022-06-28 |title=Arrest of Journalist in India Adds to Press Freedom Concerns |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/28/world/asia/indian-journalist-arrested-modi.html |access-date=2022-06-29 |issn=0362-4331}}
• {{Cite web|title=India: Arrest of Muslim fact-checker raises concerns over press freedom |date=28 June 2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/india-arrest-of-muslim-fact-checker-raises-concerns-over-press-freedom/a-62283556 |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=DW.com |language=en-GB}}
• {{Cite web |date=2022-06-28 |title=Delhi police arrest Muslim journalist Mohammed Zubair over tweet from 2018 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/28/delhi-police-arrest-muslim-journalist-mohammed-zubair-india-bjp |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}
• {{Cite news |title=Arrest of Indian Muslim journalist sparks widespread outrage |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/arrest-of-indian-muslim-journalist-sparks-widespread-outrage/2022/06/28/23fc75d6-f69f-11ec-81db-ac07a394a86b_story.html |access-date=2022-06-29 |issn=0190-8286}}
• {{Cite news |date=2022-06-28 |title=Indian journalist arrested over Twitter post |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/f2c729b7-c98c-4c1e-9f5e-37b8c81ad393 |access-date=2022-06-29}}

Alt News works by monitoring misinformation, primarily identifying that are sufficiently viral. They use CrowdTangle, a Facebook tool that publishers use to track how content spreads across the internet, for monitoring Facebook pages that have put out misinformation at some point in the past and are on either side of the ideological spectrum. They use TweetDeck, a Twitter management tool to similarly monitor content on Twitter posted by people who have been known to tweet misinformation frequently. They also monitor multiple WhatsApp groups that they have been able to infiltrate and also receive content from users who alert them on social media and WhatsApp.{{cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/alt-news-pratik-sinha-fake-news-election|title=Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha on the fake-news ecosystem in India|work=The Caravan}}

Alt News identified the individuals running the Hindu right-wing website DainikBharat.org.{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/inside-the-world-of-hindu-right-wing-fake-news-website-dainikbharat-org/story-aPdB03A4LjeIkFBFKmV0vI.html|title=Inside the world of Hindu right wing fake news website DainikBharat.org|work=Hindustan Times|date=13 June 2017|access-date=7 November 2017}} He also showed that a video allegedly depicting a Marwari girl married to a Muslim man being burnt to death for not wearing a burqah was Guatemalan in origin.{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/126611/fake-news-social-media-2/|title=What the Indian Media Can Learn From the Global War on Fake News|first=Anoo|last=Bhuyan|website=thewire.in|access-date=7 November 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-40284480|title=India ministry mocked for 'appropriating' Spain border|work=BBC News|date=15 June 2017|access-date=7 November 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170615/jsp/nation/story_156917.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107112109/https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170615/jsp/nation/story_156917.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 November 2017|title=Border lights illuminate a Moroccan mockery|work=The Telegraph|author=Imran Ahmed Siddiqui|date=15 June 2017|access-date=7 November 2017}} According to the BBC, a report by Alt News in June 2017 demonstrating that the Indian Home Ministry had used a picture of the Spanish–Moroccan border to claim it had installed floodlights on India's borders led to the ministry facing online mockery. Sinha has compiled a list of more than 40 of what he describes as fake news sources, most of which he says support right wing views.{{cite web|url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/how-alt-news-is-trying-to-take-on-the-fake-news-ecosystem-in-india-3513879.html|title=How Alt News is trying to take on the fake news ecosystem in India|date=4 June 2017|work=Firstpost|access-date=7 November 2017}}

The Alt News team wrote a book titled India Misinformed: The True Story{{Cite book |last1=Sinha |first1=P |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1274781508 |title=India Misinformed : The True Story |last2=Shaikh |first2=S |last3=Sidharth |first3=A |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2019 |isbn=978-93-5302-838-1 |language=English |oclc=1274781508}} published by HarperCollins which was released in March 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/upcoming-book-to-lay-bare-propaganda-of-misinformation-and-hoaxes/articleshow/68123154.cms|title=Upcoming book to lay bare propaganda of misinformation and hoaxes|date=25 February 2019|website=The Times of India|language=en|agency=IANS|access-date=2019-03-13}} The book was "pre-endorsed" by Arundhati Roy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/upcoming-book-to-lay-bare-propaganda-of-misinformation-and-hoaxes/1483649|title=Upcoming book to lay bare propaganda of misinformation and hoaxes|date=22 February 2019|website=Outlook India|access-date=2019-03-13}} In 2017, Sinha was invited to the Google NewsLab Asia-Pacific Summit to discuss potential solutions to fake news.

File:Dr Sumaiya Shaikh in August 2022.jpg

Sumaiya Shaikh is a neuroscientist who co-founded Alt News in her role as the science editor.{{Cite magazine |date=2020-03-12 |title=How Prepared Is India for the Coronavirus Outbreak? |url=https://time.com/5801507/coronavirus-india/ |access-date=2023-09-25 |magazine=Time |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=IANS /Kochi |date=2019-06-05 |title=Kerala braces to fight Nipah and fake news |url=https://www.gulf-times.com/story/633349/kerala-braces-to-fight-nipah-and-fake-news |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Gulf Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Pundir |first=Pallavi |date=2020-06-26 |title=An Indian Yoga Guru's 'COVID-19 Cure' Invited Controversy, a Criminal Complaint and State Bans |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/indian-yoga-guru-covid-treatment-controversy/ |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Vice |language=en}} Her work has focused on debunking misinformation related to medicine.{{Cite news |date=2021-05-04 |title=The rise of India's 'Covid quack' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-56845610 |access-date=2023-09-26}}{{Cite web |last=Team |first=N. L. |date=2022-01-22 |title=Hafta 364: Omicron cases in India and the third wave, Tek Fog investigation |url=https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/01/22/hafta-364-omicron-cases-in-india-and-the-third-wave-tekfog-investigation |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Newslaundry}} She wrote a book titled India Misinformed: The True Story with Pratik Sinha of Alt News. It was published by Harper Collins in 2019.{{Cite web |date=2019-04-26 |title=Fake news, the Indian TV newsroom, and a novel on toxic masculinity |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/ht-picks-the-most-interesting-books-of-the-week/story-o25ialJVSlMSvdgEzwfF1J.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Pillai |first=Ajith |title=Fake news and India's tryst with post-truth politics |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/books-and-art/140519/fake-news-and-indias-tryst-with-post-truth-politics.html |website=Deccan Chronicle|date=14 May 2019 }}

Shaikh has frequently highlighted misinformation related to Ayurveda, including when treatments have been promoted without scientific data.{{Cite web |date=2020-06-23 |title=Stop advertising claims of 'Ayurvedic COVID-19 medicine' until verification, Ayush ministry tells Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda |url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/stop-advertising-claims-of-ayurvedic-covid-19-medicine-until-verification-ayush-ministry-tells-ramdevs-patanjali-ayurveda-8516691.html |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Firstpost |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Kumar |first=Ruchi |date=2020-04-27 |title=Face It: The Indian Government Is Peddling Pseudoscience – The Wire Science |url=https://science.thewire.in/health/indian-government-pseudoscience-covid-19/ |access-date=2023-09-26 |language=en-GB}}

Shaikh is the founding director of a Sweden-based organization called ViolEND. The organization aims to rehabilitate extremists who per Shaikh have been shown by research to have an urge to be violent and prefer the dopamine-driven high from violence over other types of highs such as from alcohol or drugs.{{Cite web |last=Chishti |first=Seema |title=A radical shift in the infosphere is changing the Indian common sense |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/media/radical-shift-infosphere-indian-common-sense |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=The Caravan |language=en}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.altnews.in}}

Category:Fact-checking websites

Category:Indian news websites

Category:Internet properties established in 2017