8 Tips for Debunking Fake News

- Hi, I'm Hari Sreenivasan,
and 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've shared with us a
bunch of tips and tools

that not only work for them,
but can work for you too.

Here are eight steps that 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 your 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 i%s 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
popular conspiracy theories.

So immediately, that was a tip off

something does not seem right here.

- Maxed, 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 sources of 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.

- 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,

and 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 is 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.

(calm upbeat music)

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.