A research project funded by WhatsApp on how fake news affects political behaviour and caste relations is underway in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the Economic Times reports. Titled ‘Misinformation in Diverse Societies, Political Behaviour, and Good Governance’, the project is being conducted by Robert A Johns and Sayan Banerjee from the University of Essex, and Srinjoy Bose from the University of New South Wales. It involves 5,000 voters in the four states. The project is one of 20 around the world that the Facebook-owned messaging platform said it would fund last November, after it was accused of being a catalyst for the spread of fake news. Seven of these involve India (see the other six below). WhatsApp said it would put $50,000 into each project, for a total of $1 million. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports (paywall) that…
