Over the past 15 years, social media penetration has altered the norms of political campaigning. The skilful propagation of fake news and hate campaigns through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are part and parcel of modern life.

       Facebook (that owns Instagram and WhatsApp, which are as dominant in their respective spheres) is one of the world’s two most preferred sources for news content (the other being Google). Facebook’s revenues depend on engagement and its algorithms are designed to generate more and more engagement. Human nature being what it is, users are more engaged by ...