Barkha Dutt: preference

Transcript context

…Why do you think WhatsApp has proven so especially popular in India? Two reasons. I think for most people, it is the way we talk now. No one SMSs, no one does text messages anymore, no one emails anymore. You can share pictures, videos, and have entire conversations. But I think it’s also a vehicle of fake news, and it is used as that by a multitude of players. Anytime you want to spread negativity — as good as and useful as it is, it is the most effective vehicle of fake news, in India at least. I don’t know what it’s like in other countries. And you’ve got this crazy . . . I, for example, had a WhatsApp forward sent to me about me, which said that my politics was explained by the fact that I had been married three times to three Muslim men — I’ve never been married — and this explained the fact that I believed in a pluralistic India. They made up names of these men. This was on a WhatsApp forward that got circulated so heavily that it was forwarded to me as well. WhatsApp is almost like a political or a weaponized vehicle of fake news now, but I use it all the time with friends. It’s just an easier, non-intrusive way of talking. Barkha Dutt, it’s been wonderful chatting with you. Again, her new book is Humans of COVID: To Hell and Back.…

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