Di Gan

This blog post was produced as part of the course “Social Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States” at the University of Turku.

Fake news, one of the most typical representations of deception in the media world, used to be regarded as a type of serious mistake in journalism. However, with the emerging social media, new forms of journalism have been thriving. They are more immediate, individual, and interactive than the traditional ones. The definition of journalists has begun to broaden and to exclude the requirements of professionalism. The amount of fake news is sharply increasing with a flood of citizen journalists and ready access to computer technical skills.

Professor Basyouni Hamada once pointed out the defects of the trendy forms of journalism that seem to have increased the probability of fake news: “The citizen journalist model does not care about accuracy, verification, objectivity, balance, and truth telling; what he is interested in is spontaneous; and quick publication of anything at hands assuming the responsibility of the users to verify or not to verify what they consume.” Therefore, it is time to learn some techniques for spotting the false stories in order to avoid getting duped. Here are six tips for identifying fake news in social media:

1. Check the Original Posters

This is a basic step to make a preliminary judgement on whether the story might be false. Try using the list below to examine the credibility of the news source:

Individuals

• Are you familiar with the poster?
• Does this poster have a history of unusual claims? Does this seem to be a newly created profile?
• Is there a reliable byline, introduction or any information to prove the person’s expertise?
• Do a Google search of the poster for more information about his or her identity and professionalism.

Institutions

• Are you familiar with the institution?
• Does the organization have an “about us” link? Read the “About Us” section for more insight into the publisher, leadership, and mission statement.
• Is the author listed on the site, or is there an “about me” section?
• What is the domain name? “.gov,” “.edu,” and “.org” appear more credible than “.com.co,” “.net,” and other unusual top-level domain names.
• Don’t be distracted by official-looking forms or trademarks.
• Don’t let your guard down even if it is a well-known or influential institution.

2. Scrutinize the Headlines

Nowadays the headlines on social media are designed to be eye-popping in order to induce users to share posts rather than evaluate or even read the content. Fake news frequently use headlines as clickbait. Be critical and try your best to avoid complete trust at first glance. Skepticism helps you to stay alert to unauthentic reports with outrageous, misleading, or suggestive diction in their headlines.

3. Apply Common Sense

UFOs, aliens, ghosts, time travel, zombies, and other abnormal or supernatural phenomena could be elements of fake news that are easier to spot than manipulation or falsification rooted in the material world. However, you might still be fooled if there is a trace of belief in their existence hidden in your mind.

4. Verify with Multiple Coverages from Different Sources

This is probably the most useful and convenient approach to confirming whether a piece of news you read is fake. Peer comparison is an effective way to expose those that are unauthentic. Be cautious with possible opposing viewpoints related to ideologies, political systems, religions, traditions, etc. behind different coverages. There could be controversies on certain issues and it may be hard to define which ones are false news.

5. Utilize Tools to Debunk Fake Images

Don’t rely on graphics or videos because your eyes can be deceived with the support of technology. Editing photos and videos or even using “deepfakes” and “shallowfakes” are witty means to convince people to believe the fake news. Fortunately, there are tools that can help you check whether an image is real or manipulated. Here are some you can try:

• Google’s Reverse Image Search
• Fake Image Detector
• TinEye

6. Ask Professional Fact-checking Media Organizations

• FactCheck.org
• International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)
• PolitiFact.com
• Snopes.com