Guwahati:  Shocked and shaken by the killing and hate being spread by false news and rumours, the students in Assam have woken up. They have begun a social media movement against ‘fake news’.

Students of Guwahati University have launched a “social media movement” to create awareness among small groups about the consequences of “rumour mongering” and “fake news”.

The initiative follows the lynching of Nilotpal Das, 29, and Abhijit Nath, 30, hailing from the city, in Karbi Anglong district on June 8, apparently on suspicion of being kidnappers. The youths had gone to the area to visit a waterfall.

“The inhuman killings of the two youths because of a rumour about child lifters on social media shook us. So, we decided to launch a movement against misuse of social media. It is not difficult for a student or any other person to spread awareness on the issue among three to four persons. We have decided to take up this job immediately,” Monjit Sharma, the general secretary of the university’s Post Graduate Students’ Union, told The Telegraph on Sunday.

Set up in 1948, the university has nearly 5,000 postgraduate students. Nearly 400 educational institutions are affiliated to the university.

“We have also written to the president and general secretaries of affiliated colleges to take a similar pledge,” Sharma said.

“Our vice-chancellor Mridul Kumar Hazarika, registrar Suresh Kumar Nath and most teachers have also pledged their support,” he said.

  Assam, fake news, fake news syndrome, Northeast