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To combat false and misleading information

it can be useful to recognize 
the different shapes it can take.

Here are five common forms
of mis- and disinformation

to look out for.

FABRICATED

A story or claim that
is fictional is called fabricated

content. People can invent stories
for political reasons but the most

common motive is money. A website's
owner benefits from the advertising

that appears beside their content. The more
clicks they get, the more money they make.

Imposter. Imposter sites try to fool people by
imitating credible news organizations. The URL

and logo of a well-known site may be changed just
a little so people believe they are looking at

the real thing. The goal is to mislead people
into trusting and sharing faulty information.

Click bait. A click bait headline is designed
to provoke enough curiosity the people can't

resist clicking to find out more. Click bait can
spark interest by using exaggeration, emotional

language, or creating suspense. The reason
behind click bait is to earn money from ads.

Manipulated. Manipulated content is real
information that is altered to change its

meaning, such as a photo or video that
is made to depict something not shown in

the original. Visuals are immediate
and tend to appeal more strongly to

our emotions than words so it's an easy
way for misleading information to spread.

False context. False context is when a
real photo is paired with an inaccurate

story. This is one of the most common forms
of mis- and disinformation. An unaltered

image can easily become misleading with the
addition of a false headline or description

Knowing the vocabulary of information pollution is

an important step in becoming
skilled information consumers.