NUJ partners technology firms to check fake news

President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abdulwaheed Odunsile, has said the union is partnering with technology companies to curb the use of social media to broadcast fake news.

Besides, he insisted that the union would continue to picket media outfits, which fail to pay their workers salaries.

Odunsile who disclosed this in Kano, decried activities of social media handlers who claim to be practicing journalists but are using their various platforms to mislead unsuspecting members of the public.

He was in Kano to seek support of delegates for his re-election bid ahead of delegates’ conference holding in Ogun State next month.

“Sanitising the social media has not been easy. We are in talks with owners and proprietors of online publications with a view to bringing them under the NUJ umbrella.

This is being done so that they will operate in line with international journalistic standards. We hope to convoke a constitutional conference to brainstorm on how a bigger platform will be established to accommodate everybody,” he said.

Meanwhile, as countries strive to tackle fake news, especially during electioneering campaigns, Google and Facebook yesterday agreed on a code of conduct to combat online misinformation.