BBC looks to break the chain of fake news

BBC Media Action has rolled a film through which it aims to curb the spread of fake news.

It shows the protagonist receiving a video. Just as he's about to forward it, he stops and instead tries skipping for 10 seconds. After doing so he realises he must not spread the unverified news and instead deletes the message. It's based on the insight that every person with a smartphone in their hands is a potential transmitter of misinformation.

Radharani Mitra, global creative advisor, BBC Media Action, said, “We wanted to create a speed bump between impulse and deliberation. The insight is ‘counting to ten’ – just like one does when one is angry. A pause in that moment gives you time to think and stops you from doing something that you might regret later or that can cause harm."

She added, “We didn’t want to do a montage, which is what 99.9 per cent of the films done during this global lockdown are, because that’s doable. The challenge was to write a story that could be produced without violating any of the lockdown conditions. It’s been an exciting process - from the concept to the script, from the casting to location to filming to post-production – a huge learning experience. We couldn’t have done it without Baudhayan and his team at Little Lamb!”