Investigative Fact-checkers
Investigative Fact-checkers
As people across the world pay attention to news more than ever and fake news continues to rise, people in Hong Kong have taken matters into their own hands and have joined together to build a fact-checking culture.
Following the protests of 2019 and a general increase in lack of trust in their government, everyday netizens have begun to conduct their own detective work to validate the latest claims in the news. This can be seen recently in the Hong Kong government’s free giveaway of masks to the public. Originally intended as a charitable act, Hong Kongers were quick to raise the privacy concerns involved in disclosing data when obtaining a mask. This then led netizens to further look into the manufacturer of the masks, uncovering that the company was chosen without a public tender. Academics even stepped in to test the mask’s supposed efficacy and discovered that its actual reusability was lower than the original claim. But it’s not just in their homeland where they care about the truth – Hong Kongers have also been investigating the number of people who have died from COVID-19 in China, using public data to their advantage, such as telecom company usage reports.
For Hong Kong people, using the truth to face Survivalism is bringing netizens together, but also increasing Polarization between political groups. Brands will have to adapt by maintaining a level of transparency, or else face the wrath of truth seekers.
Edges: