Why Anti-misinformation Strategies Fail: India’s “Love Jihad” and Architectural Complexities of Conspiracy Theories

Abdul Rahoof Kaliyarakath Kakatharayil

Why Anti-misinformation Strategies Fail: India’s “Love Jihad” and Architectural Complexities of Conspiracy Theories

Abdul Rahoof Kaliyarakath Kakatharayil^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Communication

Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference paper › peer-review

Abstract

Governments and media organizations have responded to global-scale misinformation crisis with fact-checking and regulatory measures. However, this study argues that the design of such strategies pays little attention to the complex architecture of misinformation. Drawing on hate propaganda literature and using ‘love jihad’--a decades-old Islamophobic conspiracy theory in India--as a case, it dissects the structural characteristics of conspiracy theories and demonstrates why they raise serious doubt about the efficiency of current strategies.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 6 Aug 2022
Event	105th Annual Conference of Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, AEJMC 2022: Focusing on the Future Together - Detroit, United States Duration: 3 Aug 2022 → 6 Aug 2022 https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/67109922/22conferenceprogram (Link to conference programme)

Conference

Conference	105th Annual Conference of Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, AEJMC 2022
Country/Territory	United States
City	Detroit
Period	3/08/22 → 6/08/22
Internet address	https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/67109922/22conferenceprogram (Link to conference programme)

Cite this

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title = "Why Anti-misinformation Strategies Fail: India{\textquoteright}s “Love Jihad” and Architectural Complexities of Conspiracy Theories",

abstract = "Governments and media organizations have responded to global-scale misinformation crisis with fact-checking and regulatory measures. However, this study argues that the design of such strategies pays little attention to the complex architecture of misinformation. Drawing on hate propaganda literature and using {\textquoteleft}love jihad{\textquoteright}--a decades-old Islamophobic conspiracy theory in India--as a case, it dissects the structural characteristics of conspiracy theories and demonstrates why they raise serious doubt about the efficiency of current strategies.",

author = "\{Kaliyarakath Kakatharayil\}, \{Abdul Rahoof\}",

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language = "English",

note = "105th Annual Conference of Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, AEJMC 2022 : Focusing on the Future Together ; Conference date: 03-08-2022 Through 06-08-2022",

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Why Anti-misinformation Strategies Fail: India’s “Love Jihad” and Architectural Complexities of Conspiracy Theories. / Kaliyarakath Kakatharayil, Abdul Rahoof.
2022. Paper presented at 105th Annual Conference of Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, AEJMC 2022, Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference paper › peer-review

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T1 - Why Anti-misinformation Strategies Fail

T2 - 105th Annual Conference of Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, AEJMC 2022

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PY - 2022/8/6

Y1 - 2022/8/6

N2 - Governments and media organizations have responded to global-scale misinformation crisis with fact-checking and regulatory measures. However, this study argues that the design of such strategies pays little attention to the complex architecture of misinformation. Drawing on hate propaganda literature and using ‘love jihad’--a decades-old Islamophobic conspiracy theory in India--as a case, it dissects the structural characteristics of conspiracy theories and demonstrates why they raise serious doubt about the efficiency of current strategies.

AB - Governments and media organizations have responded to global-scale misinformation crisis with fact-checking and regulatory measures. However, this study argues that the design of such strategies pays little attention to the complex architecture of misinformation. Drawing on hate propaganda literature and using ‘love jihad’--a decades-old Islamophobic conspiracy theory in India--as a case, it dissects the structural characteristics of conspiracy theories and demonstrates why they raise serious doubt about the efficiency of current strategies.

M3 - Conference paper

Y2 - 3 August 2022 through 6 August 2022

ER -

Why Anti-misinformation Strategies Fail: India’s “Love Jihad” and Architectural Complexities of Conspiracy Theories

Abstract

Conference

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