How To Detect And Avoid Spreading Fake News
By Okechukwu Okugo
Whenever you see any news online, follow these simple tips to detect and avoid spreading fake news. They might help:
1. No matter how breaking or exciting the information is, don't just hit the share button right away. First, hold your fingers, pause, take a deep breath, and think.
2. Next, take a closer look at the message or the photos. Look first and see if they were photo-shopped. Look and see if the picture displayed matches the background of the place being talked about. Look at how familiar the people in the photo are and if it fits the content. Sometimes there's a little contrast between the message and the photos.
3. Then, finally, leave that page and surf the internet to verify the message. Check if you can find the news or event on any other site at all. If you keep seeing the news or event only on one website, it is probably fake. Actual events usually produce some sort of chain-reaction; different people reacting to it differently, at the same time. One or more people observe it together and may be reporting it concurrently. As such, the possibility of seeing the news on multiple websites is there.
4. When you are now certain that it is a fake news, return back to the page and counteract the fake news. Write clearly the reasons why you believe it is fake. This helps others when they come to the page, they will know it is fake news and will not help in sharing it.
5. Remember, all originators of fake news always try to make them look as real as possible. But at all times, something about the news will certainly be odd and will not fit in, generally, with the whole set up. That is why whenever you see the real news, it wouldn't be hard to tell the contrast with the fake news. Therefore, pay attention to details and always reconcile what you are reading with what you already know. Whenever they are not harmonizing, suspect at that instant that something must be fishy about the news.
Fake news is ugly. It's a monster. Photo credit: Osmo
Fake news is bad. They can lead to wrong and regrettable actions. It is like a whirlwind. That is why they are very destructive. They can cause irreparable damage to individuals, organizations or even to the society at large. And everything possible should be done to help curb this modern-day menace.
The opening image credit: No Hate Speech Movement blog
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