means we're on information, we look at the crack down on free press and the spread of fake news. and hospitals and banjo dash are struggling to cope with a record number of dang it cases. blitzer chan, we'll have those stories and more for you after the break. i'm like local here in berlin for me and the rest of the team. thanks for watching. induced a death the one of mankind's oldest ambitions could be within re what is it really is possible to reverse the researchers and scientists all over the world. for you know,

race against time. they are peers and rivals with one daring goals to help smart nature. the more likes watching it. on youtube, dw documentary, you're watching dw news agent coming up today. a health check on india's information eco system. modi's, hindu nationalist, are cracking down on critical news outlets. while spreading this information on a massive scale, what's the message in this media offensive? also coming up the dang, a crisis in bangladesh, how the mosquito borne disease is heading harder and reaching farther than ever before. the

my name is melissa chan, thanks for joining us. we take a closer look at india today and the state of the country's information eco system . first, we have traditional media journalists and news rooms. and these institutions are under attack by prime minister and a random moody and his government. they do not like criticism. neither does any government, but india is meant to be the world's largest democracy and a place that is supposed to welcome freedom of the press. yet, most recently police, which was of journalists working for news, click a popular online news website. the reports on the failures and shortcomings of the moody government officers confiscated computers and phones. instead, the rates are part of an anti terror investigation. the journalist from across the political spectrum have come together and denounced the governments action. ok, so that is the state of the main stream media. the other half of india's

information eco system is about what happens on social media. on line. a recent investigation by the washington post exam and how hindu nationalist under moody had been using social media to advance their 80 ology and cement their power, writing quote. they have perfected the spread of inflammatory off and false and bigoted material on in industrial scale, earning both n b and condemnation beyond india as borders. for more. joining us in the studio is d w 's, michelle stockman. michelle, can you tell us out more about this washington post investigation? what do they mean when they talk about social media being harnessed by the government? well, right now, the indian government is led by the ruling b j. b party, which is a hindu nationalist party, which basically wants to make india into a hindu for state, even though on paper it's a secular democracy. and so it's using social media to promote that agenda. and

what that looks like is basically just information that's sent out saying i'm talking about politics of fear that basically a india is in do majority is in danger and will be saved. or if there's a beach, a p, lead government in office. and also that this information is largely targeting muslims and other minorities and people who are critical of the governments like journalists or civil society members. and what's up is a major platform that is used to spread this, this information. and i spoke to the washington post to leave a bureau chief jury, she and he spoke to me about what this operation looks like on what's up to get this test information out. and he spoke about one state election where the b j p had just a 150000. i shouldn't say just to it had a 150000 people on just what's up. and also they are working with 3rd parties,

quitely tools that might be creating this information, but to understand how this can be spread so far and so fast. but let's hear what he has to say and there were audio problems with it. so i put some titles on, but uh sorry, terry, but here you go. let's listen to what you had to say to the inside of the part and tell me that when they send out a message into, let's say, a and 20 or different, what's happened. they're almost finished up. there are people inside the copy and paste it forwarded to another sort of 102030432 be around until very quickly based on whatever methods they put to be able to reach hundreds of thousands. and there has been ongoing effort to automate the process because you know, how much easier would be if you could just with one sort of click spread,

any message in this private sort of encrypted channel. there is no accountability. there are no factors that to call you know, oh is this right? is this wrong? is this, it is, it's an appropriate i just within a few clicks, you can start any method and or so if that's the case is big tech, doing anything about this? you would think so. but india is a huge market for them. 500000000 whatsapp users. there are more facebook users in india than the entire population of united states. and so the indian government has a lot of leverage to pressure these us down the social media companies to either take down content that they don't like or to keep up content like can you give us a specific example? because i think we're talking patterns and abstract here, but give us a specific example of, of what you're talking about. one thing that the washington post brought up was

this phenomenon of cal vigilante streamers. and so the cow is secret in hinduism. and so there are groups of young men, sometimes we're into ad hoc groups that go around and try and find dr. are transporting cattle, which they think is disrespectful to the animal and they will uh, stream these hunts, basically on platforms like facebook and youtube. and these become and have become violence and this is live stream. it's really action packed. and actually youtube awarded. one of these called vigilantly streamers. a silver award, which means he got a 100000 subscribers and really had a lot of violent contacts. and in fact, one instance where someone, a muslim man who in largely are these cattle transporters. he died the day after he was attacked by this group from internal entry. so it's rewarding. actually,

these social media companies are rewarding, violent content. so, um, you know, these social media companies like mehta, they make a big deal about how they're trying to tackle this information. it doesn't look like they're doing so in india. now it's, it's a big question and washing post also talked about. and another example where and kashmir and mr. kashmir, there were a stake accounts that were created that were distributing this information and also praising the indian government 1st cracked on there and also targeting customary journalist, a separate test and enforced edition. and so there are actually isn't unit inside meta, which owns facebook, and they are searching for propaganda. and they found this unit in india they into tonight at they said we, we don't think this is a group. it should be on the platform. they notified meta indian executives in india, who said no, we're not touching us. we are not taking it down because this is affiliated with

the government and we could even be implicated for treatment. so there's internal divisions with in facebook about how to handle this. and also um, i mean meta has said that it denies that it has about depression from the indian government. but in 2019 it did commission an independent investigation about its human rights record after they were whistleblower testimonies and negative media attention. they found that there were, in fact, cases where a facebook did not act when there was a speech or cost action before violent, communal violence in india that turned deadly. but what does happen to that report? that's still a question i actually spoke to the senior counsel of a digital rights organization who told me what happened to that report. so let's listen to what he had to say or the instead of giving you this, this, that supports the actually actively site the board. probably even the you should have board for resolutions asking for this is human rights, the board to the,

the developers. and that us getting that just use the same db data for findings of this are stopping the address and the use of the black. you just used to not make the information available. so the don't know, even the mistakes and that type stuff is committed, which ignores about what sort of active steps it's taking. and in fact, you seem to be seeing the dies literally trying to do. what do i, it's, it's useful checks and balances on the business method, the individuals of the project human rights. and it's a little bit of information that seems to indicate that methods not privatizing government relations as political future in the mind. methods executives that either protecting individuals, protecting the communities independent human rights. what's really tricky about this situation is that usually if big tech is problematic, a government might step in to try to regulate it or try to make it accountable. but here you have a situation where the government is the problem, right?

the government is showing that it wants to be in charge of the conversation. it wants to direct the social media agenda and also wants to be control of their should be silenced. and it's, there's examples, you know, in 2021, the government read it, mobilly police rated twitters office there over a tweet that was labeled as manipulative media. and that was read out by a b, j, p, politician. so individuals need to be aware, we all knocked us in india. we all need to be aware of what's coming at us and watching posts as doing more. so watch out for more of the series to come. michelle stockman, thank you so much for joining us. you're welcome bangladesh is worst ever done. a fever outbreak is threatening to overwhelm its health system . the country is dealing with more than 200000 cases of mosquito borne disease, including a record number of depths of the funds. it's actually as well used to dealing with thank you. feedback. but this year is something else at this hospital in

the capsule dot com. the now treating around a 1000 patients unexplored undergone a few 100 beds. it doesn't have room for them all. in some cases, this outbreak is his entire families, including many young children. and she's just a 6 year old child but hasn't taken any food except fluid for 15 days. she's become weak, my parents are suffering and i feel really bad to see this. the, the cost of the test of my doctor friend with dingy my nephew, and when the doctor couldn't save himself, excuse me, even more modern. god forbid, if something happens to me at this age. where will my family and children go to me as the fear is much greater now,

let me actually be there to this hospital is now at the center of the response to this reco breaking outbreak. when that is already claimed more than a 1000 lives, including more than a 100 children a total almost 4 times higher than last year, with doctors increasingly worried about how quickly some patients will be coming severely you for this is daniel saltzman was seeing the dinky shots injury mostly c plus usually classic deputies to follow a certain cold fever, all phase critical phase. and then control suffice if you have a less or 2 or overlapping a patient is going from a short history of fever, destruction during the following day. right? that means when someone is getting infected for the 2nd bill, 3rd time, they aren't going through the classic phases. well, emetics have really wants and need now is a vaccine. the isn't one widely available yet that could help relieve this

emergency. but there is some hope for the future after the world health organization, david's backing to a new vaccine from japan, one that's pretty pull than 80 percent effective in trials, preventing people being admitted to the hospital. the programs, thanks for watching. the good shape. everyone knows this one feeling even though it's triggered 5 different causes, fee or a normal response to danger between the sphere become pathological for an anxiety disorder. and what can help in good shape. next on d w,

we say they're about never giving up every weekend on d w. the some people are afraid of the skin forms on will mail cold, putting a fee, a cold, blue co, dentist, ibm. that might sound funny, but anxiety disorders and nothing much. they make life really difficult from a fear of heights, a flying of confined spaces that open spaces to fear of animals of people. and those dreaded exams. how much fear is no.