Some editors, and a member of the House of Representatives, Ekiti North 1 (Ikole/Oye) Federal Constituency, Akin Rotimi Jr., have expressed concerns over the trend of Artificial Intelligence-generated fake news.

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media, Rotimi, held that AI was being used in accelerating the spread of fake news at a worrisome rate.

Rotimi made this known while speaking during a panel discussion on X Space hosted by NPO Reports on Saturday in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day.

In his overview of the topic, “Fake News, Political Agenda, and the Erosion of Public Trust in the Media,” the lawmaker said fake news was not a mere buzzword but a tool designed to mislead and manipulate public biases.

He noted the alarming rate at which fake news was spreading.

“Fake news is not merely a buzzword. It is designed to mislead and manipulate our public biases. Citizens now consume news with a default skepticism. Artificial Intelligence has accelerated the dissemination of fake news. Falsehood now travels faster, wider, and deeper than before,” he said.

On the solution to tackle the spread of fake news, Rotimi maintained that media institutions and regulatory bodies must take responsibility in curbing fake news through self-regulation, as he warned against leaving the responsibility in the hands of the government.

“Freedom without responsibility is anarchy, journalism without ethics is propaganda. In any society, if you leave it to the government, it will always be skewed. It is always better for the media to self-regulate,” he said.

Media executives who also spoke at the event sought mechanisms to check the use of media outlets for the dissemination of fake news by politicians.

The Editor of The Cable, Kolapo Olapoju, decried the spate of fake news.

“Globally, the scourge of fake news is extremely rampant. There are lots of people behind the screen pulling the strings. We are dealing with a serious trust deficit. There is the issue of fake news there, but the media itself has not been very responsible in its reporting.

“We’ve allowed a lot of quacks to come into the space and drown out those doing important works,” Olapoju said.

In alignment with Olapoju’s argument, the Editor-in-Chief of Frank Talk Now,  Dr. Bisi Deji-Folutile, admitted that there were people behind the spread of misinformation.

“There are people behind the scenes responsible for most of the misinformation. Media are cultural influencers. Because of the influence, it has the capacity to influence the opinion of the public.

“Whatever you see coming from the media is controlled by the economic and political powers over time. Over the years, these political and economic powers have had control over the media. There is hardly anything that is fake that you find in the Nigerian media space today that is not controlled from somewhere. Fake news and misinformation don’t just come into the space,” she said.

“The question is, how do we regulate the power that churns out misinformation through the media?” She queried.

“These days we do a lot of fact-checks and realised that things that come out of government through press releases turn out to be misinformation.

“The truth is the political elite will always need the media to amplify their messages. It will be nice if the messages are straightforward. But naturally, we amplify the message that soothes our purposes,” she added.