There are a few ways to avoid any kind of fake news, but most of the people don't understand the difference initially and became a victim of such content. But, a workshop on identifying fake news and online scams would help people to combat such incidents.
As per the reports from The Straits Times, The Media Literacy Council in Singapore conducted the workshop at the Pixel Building in Buona Vista on Monday. This program was a part of the annual 'N.E.mation!' a contest that aims to spread awareness about such misleading and fake contents and online frauds.
As per the police reports, compared to last year they have seen a significant rise in crimes related to e-commerce scams, loan scams and "China officials" impersonation between January and June 2018. The motive of the workshop was to fight against such scams and other fake contents that affect the day to day like of any person.
Thirteen students from five secondary schools participated in the workshop and learned the tricks to identify fake stories and common online scams. Through the workshop, those students also learnt how to safeguard themselves from cyberbullying.
The mentors at the workshop advised them to check whether a particular online story has an exaggerated headline and other media organizations have covered the same news or not.
Reports stated that a 13-year-old Secondary 1 student Albert Loh, who was one of the participants, said he heard about a 2015 incident in which a Filipino family had allegedly complained about the drum beats during a Tamil festival called Thaipusam. In addition, he said that the story turned out to be false. He also told The Straits Time that if people understand which one is a fake news, then the community will be stronger and it would help to avoid suspicious behaviour and will prevent racial tensions.
N.E.mation! which just celebrated its 13th year, is a platform for students that allows them to express their own ideas on Total Defence by creating short animation videos. This inter-school digital animation competition is organized by Animagine and Nexus, the Ministry of Defence department responsible for Total Defence and National Education.
Almost 150 students from several schools have participated in the contest. These students also visited partner organisations such as the Singapore Red Cross and Nee Soon South Community Club on Monday and gathered knowledge about how these organisations protecting the country.
However, as per the organizers N.E.mation! 2019 has started in July and with main Student Category for secondary school students aged between 13 and 16, now they have introduced a new Youth Category for youths between 17 and 25. The winners will be announced in 2019 February.
