How to recognize fakes in the news and on the Internet

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Only 12% of Russians fully believe in TV news. The situation with the Internet is even worse - only 8% completely trust what is written and shown. The rest do not believe and do the right thing.

1. Trust no one

Take it for granted that there is too much information. There are so many that it is impossible to divide it into false and true. Fakes appear with the aim of deceiving someone, confusing, hiding real data, or just for fun.

Even sources who do not want to cheat can rely on fake information, because disinformation has leaked to news agencies, reputable channels, or comes from competent individuals. Roughly speaking, some lie not because they want to deceive, but because they themselves are deceived.

Fact checking is part of a journalist's job for a serious publication, but everyone is wrong. And on the Internet, where everyone writes and delivers information, and not just professionals whose job descriptions contain fact-checking, there is a wagonload of such deceived speakers.

What to do about it? Do not take anything for granted immediately and unconditionally, to doubt everything. The attitude smacks of paranoia, but this is the first rule of information hygiene.

2. Look at the source

All messages and articles in which the author is not indicated - an increased risk of fake. Any source must be credible and have a history. At a minimum, it should be easy to find the contacts of the editorial office or the author. If you don't find anything like that on the site, check it through any WHOIS service. A super-young resource without contacts and information about who makes it does not inspire any confidence.

If a link is given to another resource (the agency reported, the media published it, the portal published it), but it does not lead to a specific article or entry, but to the entire resource as a whole, then this is most likely false information.

If the source is some British or European scientist without the name of the study or indication of publication, then this can easily turn out to be fake.

If the source is littered with messages about how a blind dog saved a family from a mad saucer, and the headlines are built on the principle “Shock! Sensation! The whole world could not imagine such a thing!”- these are fakes. Even if truthful information comes across among them, it is still not worth spending time looking for it. Aggregators of news are unreliable sources, which just does not get there.

All resources that clearly take and promote a specific position are an increased risk of fake or biased interpretation. If the news puts pressure on emotions, if the author's position is expressed too explicitly in it, then this is not news - this is already an opinion, which means that the information may be distorted.

3. Look at the pictures

Not all professionals can distinguish a fake photo from a real one, if the fake is done skillfully. As a rule, photos are searched for and taken quickly for "hot" news, so bloopers are inevitable there.

Pay attention to how the photo looks, whether there are absolutely identical areas on it (where someone stamped a picture or painted over details), whether there are objects that differ in sharpness and color.

The easiest ways to check are by searching on Google images or using extensions. Sometimes the frames from which the fake was made are on the first page of the search (if the news with the fake picture did not have time to spread widely).

It is worse when the photo is not taken from a photo stock, but has no relation to reality. Look for other news on this topic, see if there are shots from a different angle. If everyone replicates one picture, this is a reason to suspect deception (unless it is a superframe of a lone astronaut).

If doubts persist, send the photo through the service. It detects coding errors, and if the photo has been changed many times, it shows in which exact places. This, of course, is not an indication of a fake, but only information for thought, but it will not be superfluous either.

4. Watch the video in full and read the comments

Checking a video is more difficult than a picture or text, because there are no services that will find the recording yet. Just in case, if the video is inserted from YouTube, watch the video there.

Some fake videos were exposed by the date they were uploaded, and users often leave comments in which they indicate inaccuracies. For example, Facebook users noticed that streams from orbit are not real.

When watching a video, pay attention to the details: labels, people's clothes, the weather. If, for example, they say that the recording was made in Italy, and all the inscriptions are in French, then the blunder is obvious. It is more difficult if they talk about an event that happened on a clear day, and it is raining in the frame. But even this can be verified at least by eyewitness accounts.

5. Ask eyewitnesses

It is impossible to check every news in this way, you simply will not have time. But if the information is important, try to contact eyewitnesses of the events or those who are nearby. How to find? In any social network by location, on forums, right in the comments under an article or video.

6. Ask the authors

Remember the second point? The news has an author, the source must have contacts for communication. In case you really need the information, and you doubt its veracity, contact the author. The creators of fakes are pierced on the simplest questions and do not seek to communicate.

Of course, not all authors are available and generally answer letters, messages and calls, but this is one of the methods.

In social networks, especially if they want to collect money from you for something (treatment, rescue, a good cause), it is all the more important to communicate with the authors and ask a lot of questions.

7. Check quotes from great people

For beauty, quotes are inserted into fakes, which are often born immediately in the head of a fakewriter. There are special quotes for tracking. The 100 Great Thoughts books are not included in this list because they contain errors. Try to find a quote in "" or check it for erroneous sayings.

It is not only the words spoken a hundred years ago that need to be checked. Any interview can be distorted, especially in translation. Therefore, do not be lazy to find the entire statement of a public person, or at least look on Twitter - whether the person said this or not.

Always look to see if there is an indication of the event in the statement of an eyewitness or a public person. For example, the phrase: “This is awful, the responsible will be punished” - is applicable in general to all emergency situations for which you can appoint responsible. So it is not difficult to insert such a comment into any news item. But if the speaker says: “What happened on January 1 in Moscow is terrible. Chief Ivanov and executor Petrov will be punished,”- this is already specifics.

8. Check the news with experts

There are not only fakes on the Internet, but also people who expose them.

For example, a list of sites with fake news, follow the news in the world, browse Russian ones.

9. Learn

The more a person knows, the more difficult it is to deceive him. For example, telling a story about how scientists discovered a cure for all cancer at once, or how they learned how to make salt without GMOs, will no longer work.

The strongest filter is your brain, so develop it.