Careful, You Might Already Be Helping Spread Digital Lies (Without Knowing It)

A few weeks ago I saw a video of a well-known leader saying something shocking. I almost shared it. Then I stopped and checked first. The video was fake. It was made by AI in a few minutes. Thousands of people had already shared it before anyone found out. I was one click away from helping spread it too.

This is how the world works now. Every person with a phone can spread news to hundreds of people in seconds. Most people do not think of this as a big deal. They think sharing one post is harmless. It is not harmless. If you share something without checking it first you have already helped spread a lie. You did not create the lie. But you helped it travel.

Let us look at the size of this problem. Researchers once studied about 126000 stories shared by nearly 3 million people online. Fake stories reached far more people than true stories. The most shared fake stories reached up to 100000 people. True stories rarely reached even 1000 people. This is not luck. Lies are usually more shocking and more exciting than plain truth. Truth moves slow. Lies move fast.

Now add AI on top of this old problem. By early 2026 groups that check facts had found more than 3000 websites that use AI to create fake or low quality news. These sites work in many languages including ones close to home. They are not one person writing from home. They are like factories. Machines write hundreds of fake articles every single day just to get clicks and make money from ads. Some governments even use AI made pictures and videos to push their own message. This is not a movie plot. This is happening right now.

You may think trusted news channels will keep you safe. Be careful with that idea too. Many people around the world say they do not fully trust what they see on social media anymore. That makes sense. But even big well known news channels are not always fair. Many of them need money from adverts. Some are close to political groups or big businesses. A news story can have zero wrong facts in it and still be one sided. How. By showing only one part of the full story and hiding the rest. That is the quiet trick. Not lying with words but hiding the full picture. This small trick can change how millions of people think about a war an election or even prices in the market.

So who can you fully trust then. Here is the hard truth. No one completely. Not one channel not one app not one fact checking site and not even this column you are reading now. The only real protection you have is yourself. Your own habit of asking questions before you believe something and before you share it.

This does not mean you should doubt everything all the time. That kind of thinking is tiring and does not help either. What you need is one simple habit. Before you believe a story ask three easy questions. Who gains something if I believe this. What part of the story is missing. And can I find the same news from another source that has no reason to agree with the first one.

Think about world politics as an example. When two countries fight and both sides tell a different story do not just believe the one that matches what you already feel. That is the easy way out and it is exactly what fake news wants from you. Instead look for facts that both sides agree on. Look for reporters who are actually there on the ground. Look at what happened months before not just today's headline. The full picture takes time to understand. A headline does not give you time. That gap between the two is where most of us get fooled.

One study found that people can correctly tell a true story from a false one only about 60 percent of the time. That is barely better than a guess. This is not because people are foolish. It is because fake news today is built by teams who study exactly how our minds react to fear anger and pride. You are not up against one lazy liar anymore. You are up against a well planned system.

Some people believe new technology will fix all of this. Better apps. Better tools that catch fake AI content. Do not fully count on this. Every tool built to catch fake content is soon followed by a smarter trick to fool that same tool. It is a race and right now the side making fake news is often faster than the side trying to catch it. If you only trust an app to protect you it is like locking one door while ten windows stay open.

The only lasting protection is a mind that is trained to slow down. Read past the headline before you believe it. Check the date of an old photo before sharing it again as new. Notice when a story makes you very angry within seconds because strong feelings are often the exact trick used to stop you from thinking clearly. Ask yourself where the money or power behind a story might be pointing.

Bangladesh is not away from any of this. Our own news space fills up with rumours during elections during floods and during moments of tension between groups. One single fake post has caused real harm here before. It will happen again unless enough of us build better habits. This job is not only for the government or only for news channels. It starts with each person choosing not to be the weak link in the chain.

So here is a real question for you today. Are you someone who checks before sharing or someone who shares before checking. Be honest with yourself. Most of us including me have been the second type more times than we like to admit.

Being smart about news is not extra work anymore. It is basic protection for your own mind and for society. No app no warning label and no single trusted channel can do this job for you. Fake and one sided information will keep coming faster than before. Whether you end up helping spread it or helping stop it depends on one simple thing. How much effort you are willing to give to know the truth before you believe it.

That effort is the only real shield we have left.

The writer is the COO at KS Infotech; he can be reached at: [email protected]