Hi, I'm Hari Sreenivasan.
Welcome to Take on Fake,
where we'll debunk some claims you may have seen or even shared online.
We've spent the past year
talking to journalists and fact checkers all over the country
about how they tackle misinformation gone viral.
They shared with us a bunch of tips and tools
that not only work for them, but can work for you too.
Here are 8 steps you can take,
whether it's on your phone or your laptop
to help make sense of all the information you're seeing on your timelines.
Know the difference between misinformation and disinformation.
It's important to first understand the difference between these two words.
You've probably seen or heard them a lot
over the past couple of years.
Misinformation is false information that is spread
regardless of whether there is intent to mislead.
Disinformation, on the other hand, is designed to deceive you.
It might be a manipulated narrative
or completely made up facts.
Disinformation is just plain propaganda.
So now you know the types of bad information,
what can you do when you come across them?
Check your emotional response.
Social media is designed to get a big reaction out of you,
whether it's something to like, or love,
cry over, or get angry about.
If you're scrolling through social media
and you see something that really speaks to you,
and like really feels right,
and you think, "Yes, that really solidifies what I think."
That should be a warning to you that it might be questionable.
Often, you'll find that the facts that are included
in means that feel the most right, are actually wrong.
Look for red flags in the post itself.
How do you know if something is wrong?
Well, there are a lot of telltale signs
that a post may not be legitimate
that you can find without leaving your social media feed.
If you see dozens and dozens of hashtags,
take a closer look - who is the post targeting?
What audience is the post trying to reach?
Immediately we are skeptical
because you're seeing lots and lots of hashtags -
that's sort of a giveaway that someone is trying
to spread something really quickly.
You might even notice a few QAnon hashtags here,
which is a fringe,
but now more populist conspiracy theories.
So immediately, that was a tip off
something does not seem right here.
Next, the posts may have already been flagged for you.
Most social media platforms work with independent fact checkers
and allow them to add labels
to post that are false, misleading, or taken out of context.
Open a new tab.
New tabs are every fact-checkers best friend.
We've talked to a lot of journalists,
and they all had one thing in common -
just look at all of the tabs.
Once you open a new tab,
the best place to start is with an internet search.
A keyword search can show you
where the information came from originally,
but you can also cross reference with other sources,
and find out if what you're seeing
has already been clarified or debunked.
Check out the website.
Sometimes the social media posts will link out to a website.
If that's the case,
you can learn a lot about the source's legitimacy
with just a little bit of detective work.
So you always wanna do as much research on the website as possible
before sharing something.
So always go to that website and find their "About" page.
If there's not a lot of information there,
or there are spelling errors, or it seems kind of generic,
that might be a signal to you
that the website's not reliable.
Try one of these tools.
Journalists use a number of excellent free resources
to help them learn more about a piece of information.
Found a questionable photo?
Start with a reverse image search.
And this reverse image search is where you can kinda ask the internet,
whether it's Google or another search engine,
"Has something been uploaded to the internet before
with a thumbnail like this? Can you find this online?"
For dubious websites, use Whois.
This lookup tool can tell you who registered the domain
and when a website was first created.
If a website was created around the same time
that the post you saw was going viral,
that may sound a few alarm bells for you.
Be prepared for breaking news.
Reliable news takes time, but when news breaks,
information can travel faster than facts.
So what can you do to make sure
you're getting accurate up-to-date information?
It's really helpful, I think, if you're an individual,
to create a list with all of these different journalists
so that you can monitor them during breaking news.
Build your own little stable of experts
that you trust, that are verified.
And that way you might see that what you're about to share
actually showed up here as something that you shouldn't.
Exactly.
Ask for help.
If you see something on your feed that needs a fact check,
reach out directly to a trusted fact-checker
and ask them to investigate it for you.
We definitely need the public's help too,
to flag things for fact checkers.
We have an email, we have social media accounts,
and if people have questions, we would love to help them.
2020 has been a year.
It seems like every day has brought some fresh breaking news,
and along with it, some right falsehoods and outright lies.
It's been exhausting for everyone.
That's why we're especially grateful
to all of the hardworking journalists that we've spoken to.
We've covered just a few bits of misinformation in our 10 episodes,
but these fact checkers have covered thousands.
So hats off to you all, and to everyone else
who's out there checking sources, verifying facts,
and debunking bogus claims.
Until next time. Don't spread fake news.
keep it real.
I'm Hari Sreenivasan, and this is Take on Fake.
Thanks for joining us this season.
We're gonna take a little break for a while,
but we hope you keep fact checking throughout our hiatus.
Check out the description for a bunch of resources
to help you chase the truth.