Fake news makes it to Instagram now

NEW DELHI: Instagram has become a hotbed for fake news and misinformation over the past few weeks, experts have said, raising concerns on whether the Election Commission is adequately scrutinising the Facebook-owned photo and video-sharing social network platform for objectionable political content.
Instagram is not mentioned separately in the voluntary ‘code of ethics’ for general elections issued by EC while its sister company WhatsApp is, analytics companies, strategists, and fact-checkers said. It’s not clear if the platform is being monitored, they said.
“Based on our analysis, we are seeing a surge in political posts on Instagram,” said Prashant Puri, CEO at digital marketing firm Ad-Lift. “These Instagram handles have followers ranging from a couple of hundred to tens of thousands.” Popular hashtags on Instagram include those revolving around BJP, Congress, Narendra-Modi, RahulGandhi, AAP, and Samajwadi party.