Rapper Raftaar gears up to unleash a rivetting single for generating awareness around the snowballing surge of misinformation and fake news on COVID-19
As the world continues to fight it’s battle against COVID-19, rapper Raftaar gears up to unleash a rivetting single with a timely message. Inspired by the United Nation’s Pause campaign, which is part of the Verified initiative, Mask On aims to generate awareness around the snowballing surge of misinformation in the wake of the unprecedented global crisis. Produced by independent music label Kalamkaar and featuring its affiliates Rashmeet Kaur, Karma and Yunan, the inspiring anthem encourages listeners to support the global crusade against misinformation by verifying the authenticity of information before they share it.
Commenting on this, Raftaar states, “This is Kalamkaar’s humble contribution on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the UN. Currently the world is in a state of chaos. A lot of people want to lament on a lot of things due to the built-up anguish, anxiety and annoyance and it’s understandable. Unfortunately, over the years the human race hasn’t given importance to mastery of emotions and thoughts and now we face serious trials when there is a multitude of emotions being generated due to the unprecedented crisis. However, this doesn’t give anyone the right to spread misinformation which is a virus and exploits our biases and prejudices. We are in a moment of global unrest with growing COVID-19 cases, economic volatility, climate emergency, worldwide protests for racial justice. Misinformation, hate speech and fake news is empowering and distorting all of these issues. Often, we share on impulse, before checking the authenticity of the content but I urge everyone to contain this impulse.”
Echoing his views, Rashmeet adds, “COVID-19 has provided a stark reminder that access to accurate, trusted information can be the difference between pessimism and optimism, division and unity, and even life and death. We are proud to be supporting Verified and its work to tackle the Coronavirus infodemic by rapidly spreading reliable, science-based information to protect people and communities around the world. Misinformation and fake news on COVID-19 across social media and other communication channels can be deadly, disrupt crucial health services and endanger life. Taking a brief pause before sharing information will help to break the chain and significantly lessen the inclination to share shocking or emotive material and slow the spread of misinformation.”
Misinformation is damaging the world. It hijacks people’s emotions, taps into their weaknesses, tricking them into contributing to a chain of events that can have serious consequences on people. COVID-19 misinformation undermines the collective ability to control the pandemic and keep people safe. In response to COVID-19 infodemic, the initiative is focussing on empowering people to help combat false information by sharing only trusted information, fact-based advice and stories from the best of humanity.
