JEDDAH: Consequences of the online “fake news” epidemic have been serious and manifold, with phoney reports having been blamed for everything from a gun attack in Washington to influencing the result of the US election. But now things have gone nuclear.

A tense standoff between Pakistan and Israel was prompted last week by an entirely false news report.

Pakistan’s defense minister threatened to retaliate in kind to any Israeli nuclear strike after apparently being tricked by a fake news site into a confrontation on social media.

Khawaja Asif was apparently responding to an invented story published on the website AWDNews and headlined: “Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops into Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack.”

The Pakistani minister tweeted Friday: “Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh.Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too.”

His missive prompted a clarification from Israel’s Ministry of Defense, which responded to him on Saturday: “@KhawajaMAsif The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Yaalon re Pakistan was never said,” adding: “@KhawajaMAsif reports referred to by the Pakistani Def Min are entirely false.”

Israel has a policy of ambiguity in relation to its nuclear arsenal, neither confirming nor denying its existence, but is widely believed to be an atomic power. Pakistan, which conducted its first nuclear test in 1998, is believed by analysts to have around 120 nuclear weapons and the fastest growing stockpile. The mainly Muslim country has no diplomatic ties with Israel.

Asif was widely mocked for his blunder — although his tweet had not been deleted as of Monday afternoon.

“Our nuclear program is too serious a business to be left to Twitter-addicted politicians”, said prominent TV journalist Nusrat Javeed.

There is a rising tide of fake articles being shared on social media. AWDNews, which did not respond to requests for comment when contacted by Arab News, is one of many sites that publish some misleading and often completely fabricated stories.

The spread of fake news stories online is having a very real impact in the real world, reports suggest.

Earlier this month a rifle-wielding man entered a pizza restaurant in Washington, saying he wanted to investigate a fake news story that the establishment was a centre for child abduction linked to failed US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

After the surprise victory of Donald Trump in the US election, many criticized services like Facebook and Google for their role in helping spread fake news stories.

And some alleged that fake news could have helped sway the result of the US election.

The outgoing President Barack Obama has criticized how “crazy conspiracy theorizing” is spread on social networks like Facebook.

A New York magazine article published in Nov. stated the case bluntly: “Donald Trump Won Because of Facebook.”

Some argued that Facebook — along with less popular social platforms — allowed people to share fake news articles widely, allowing completely fabricated reports to appear on people’s timelines with a prominence similar to perfectly legitimate news stories.

Last week Google said it was working to refine its algorithm to weed out “non-authoritative” information after a British news report showed a Holocaust denial website was the top result when users asked “Did the Holocaust happen?”

And Facebook is also reported to have updated its terms and conditions to specifically clarify its policy on fake news.

“We take misinformation seriously,” a Facebook spokesperson said last month. “Our goal is to connect people with the stories they find most meaningful, and we know people want accurate information. We’ve been working on this problem for a long time and we take this responsibility seriously. We’ve made significant progress, but there is more work to be done.”

— WITH AFP