NEWS on social media should be fact-checked, says EU ambassador for Pacific Sujiro Seam.
In his recent visit to Labasa, Mr Seam urged members of the public to depend on mainstream media because reporters checked the facts of reports.
In addressing members of the public at the Citizens Constitutional Forum national public forum, Mr Seam said in developing countries such as Fiji, the most popular source of information derived was from social media.
“The source of information is the key point in democracy and today everyone in developed countries like Europe and even in developing countries, the number one source of information is social media,” he said.
“People like to get their information from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, but these information are not accurate.
“The problem with social media is that information are not fact-checked where mainstream media or the press, the information are fact-checked.”
Mr Seam said the EU was now working with Facebook administrators to check information posts on the website, ensuring they were fact-checked.
In a society of democracy, he said, it was important to have transparency and honesty.
“Transparency is talking about what you will do and accountability is to do what you say so, it’s always good to check whether promises made before any elections are fulfilled after the elections.”
Democracy, he added, was not only about elections, but about honesty.
