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Hi, I'm Hari Sreenivasan.

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Welcome to Take on Fake,

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where we'll debunk some claims 
you may have seen or even shared online.

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We've spent the past year

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talking to journalists and fact
checkers all over the country

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about how they tackle
misinformation gone viral.

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They shared with us
a bunch of tips and tools

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

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Here are 8 steps you can take,

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whether it's on your phone or your laptop

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to help make sense of all the information
you're seeing on your timelines.

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Know the difference between 
misinformation and disinformation.

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It's important to first understand
the difference between these two words.

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You've probably seen or heard them a lot

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over the past couple of years.

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Misinformation is false
information that is spread

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regardless of whether
there is intent to mislead.

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Disinformation, on the other hand,
is designed to deceive you.

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It might be a manipulated narrative

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or completely made up facts.

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Disinformation is just plain propaganda.

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So now you know the types
of bad information,

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what can you do when you come across them?

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Check your emotional response.

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Social media is designed
to get a big reaction out of you,

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whether it's something to like, or love,

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cry over, or get angry about.

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If you're scrolling through social media

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and you see something
that really speaks to you,

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and like really feels right,

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and you think, "Yes, that really
solidifies what I think."

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That should be a warning to you
that it might be questionable.

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Often, you'll find that
the facts that are included

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in means that feel the most
right, are actually wrong.

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Look for red flags in the post itself.

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How do you know if something is wrong?

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Well, there are a lot of telltale signs

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that a post may not be legitimate

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that you can find without leaving
your social media feed.

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If you see dozens and dozens of hashtags,

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take a closer look -
who is the post targeting?

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What audience is the post trying to reach?

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Immediately we are skeptical

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because you're seeing
lots and lots of hashtags -

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that's sort of a giveaway
that someone is trying

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to spread something really quickly.

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You might even notice 
a few QAnon hashtags here,

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which is a fringe,

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but now more populist conspiracy theories.

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So immediately, that was a tip off

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something does not seem right here.

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Next, the posts may have
already been flagged for you.

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Most social media platforms
work with independent fact checkers

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and allow them to add labels

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to post that are false, misleading,
or taken out of context.

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Open a new tab.

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New tabs are every
fact-checkers best friend.

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We've talked to a lot of journalists,

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and they all had one thing in common -

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just look at all of the tabs.

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Once you open a new tab,

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the best place to start is
with an internet search.

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A keyword search can show you

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where the information
came from originally,

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but you can also cross
reference with other sources,

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and find out if what you're seeing

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has already been clarified or debunked.

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Check out the website.

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Sometimes the social media posts
will link out to a website.

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If that's the case,

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you can learn a lot about
the source's legitimacy

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with just a little bit of detective work.

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So you always wanna do as much
research on the website as possible

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before sharing something.

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So always go to that website
and find their "About" page.

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If there's not a lot of information there,

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or there are spelling errors,
or it seems kind of generic,

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that might be a signal to you

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that the website's not reliable.

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Try one of these tools.

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Journalists use a number
of excellent free resources

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to help them learn more
about a piece of information.

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Found a questionable photo?

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Start with a reverse image search.

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And this reverse image search
is where you can kinda ask the internet,

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whether it's Google
or another search engine,

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"Has something been uploaded
to the internet before

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with a thumbnail like this?
Can you find this online?"

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For dubious websites, use Whois.

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This lookup tool can tell
you who registered the domain

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and when a website was first created.

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If a website was created
around the same time

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that the post you saw was going viral,

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that may sound a few alarm bells for you.

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Be prepared for breaking news.

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Reliable news takes time,
but when news breaks,

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information can travel faster than facts.

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So what can you do to make sure

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you're getting accurate
up-to-date information?

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It's really helpful, I think,
if you're an individual,

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to create a list with all 
of these different journalists

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so that you can monitor
them during breaking news.

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Build your own little stable of experts

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that you trust, that are verified.

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And that way you might see
that what you're about to share

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actually showed up here
as something that you shouldn't.

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Exactly.

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Ask for help.

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If you see something on your feed
that needs a fact check,

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reach out directly
to a trusted fact-checker

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and ask them to investigate it for you.

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We definitely need the public's help too,

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to flag things for fact checkers.

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We have an email, we have
social media accounts,

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and if people have questions,
we would love to help them.

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2020 has been a year.

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It seems like every day has brought
some fresh breaking news,

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and along with it, some right 
falsehoods and outright lies.

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It's been exhausting for everyone.

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That's why we're especially grateful

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to all of the hardworking
journalists that we've spoken to.

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We've covered just a few bits
of misinformation in our 10 episodes,

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but these fact checkers
have covered thousands.

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So hats off to you all,
and to everyone else

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who's out there checking
sources, verifying facts,

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and debunking bogus claims.

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Until next time. 
Don't spread fake news.

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keep it real.

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I'm Hari Sreenivasan,
and this is Take on Fake.

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Thanks for joining us this season.

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We're gonna take
a little break for a while,

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but we hope you keep fact
checking throughout our hiatus.

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Check out the description
for a bunch of resources

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to help you chase the truth.