How to spot fake news in four steps

What is fake news?

Jeff Yates, the Quebec specialist on the issue, defines false news as “information that is either downright false or misappropriated, exaggerated or distorted to such an extent that it is no longer true, presented as real news with the aim of deceiving people. This can be done to generate clicks and shares on social networks, to achieve any goals (political, ideological, economic, etc.) or simply to poke fun at the gullibility of readers ”.

Fake News and Social Media

Social media like Facebook and Twitter allow their users to share information. Many platforms present “news”, advertisements and sponsored (“sponsored”) publications in such a way that it is difficult to tell them apart. The bulk of social media ad space is sold through brokers, so the platform often has no idea what is being advertised on its site. Social media is therefore becoming a breeding ground for fake news.

You’re in a rush, you use Facebook for fun, and you don’t want to break your bike before sharing something. I understand! But here’s how to do a basic check-in 30 seconds flat. It will help you clean up the web a bit. Promised sworn!

Imagine that you are walking around on Facebook, and you come across this:

Your first reaction might be: “OH MY GOD WHAT A TRAGEDY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” »Followed by sharing. But you should never share an article on Facebook without having read it! Even if the title, the image and the catchphrase give us bits of information, it is not enough to justify a sharing. Especially when you know that Facebook page administrators can easily change the title or image as they see fit. It’s too easy to be fooled.

Step 1: Read the article

So let’s read the article in question to check fake news. Fortunately (for us, unfortunately for the information), the article barely takes up a few lines and is sparse with details. It is basically claimed that the Eiffel Tower collapsed for lack of maintenance.

Note that things are already starting badly: few media would make so many mistakes in French!

Step 2: verify the identity of the site

Is it a reliable source of information? In this case, it’s a blog called “My World”. It is suspected that this blog does not have the necessary resources to employ a journalist in France to collect information. Moreover, if we go to the main page …

It can be seen that this is not a site that regularly publishes news. Where did the author get his information from? We do not know. It is very suspicious.

But you never know, maybe he took his information from reliable media?

Step 3: Do a Google News search

The collapse of the Eiffel Tower, this universal symbol of France, would be the subject of the hour in all the news media. So let’s do a little research in Google News. If the media talks about it, it will be there.

No, nothing.

Step 4: Search Twitter

Often the first few pieces of information circulate on Twitter, especially when it comes to disasters (like, say, if a hyper-famous monument ceases to exist). The first witnesses publish photos or videos of the scene even before the first journalists arrive on the ground.

To make sure the Eiffel Tower is still there, let’s have a look on Twitter:

Just pictures of tourists. The tower is still there.

So there you have it, for me, that would be enough not to share this story!

If you have a few more minutes

If you’d like to take it a step further, I can show you how to check the photos. This can be handy, because fake news articles always come with a photo, and often rely on the shocking or surprising nature of the photo to encourage you to share.

To check a photo, just open a new tab and go to Google images. Then, we simply drag the photo into the search bar.

And that’s all! Google will show you all the sites that posted this photo. In this case, we see that the image accompanying the article actually shows the September 11 attacks in 2001 and not the collapse of the Eiffel Tower.

Often, photos circulating on social networks without context. So it is very easy for anyone to deceive internet users by making up all kinds of stories. Note that on Facebook, you must right-click and then “display the image” before you can drag it into the Google image search bar.

You are therefore well equipped to clean up the web on a daily basis!

WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF THE INFORMATION?

The author is often identified at the beginning or at the end of an article, by name or by initials. Sometimes he is not mentioned or he writes under a pseudonym or for an organization. It is important to determine the author’s legitimacy: is he an expert or not on the subject? Some sites even offer access, via a hypertext link, to his biography and all of his publications.

WHAT IS THE AUTHOR’S GOAL?

The author can relate facts or express his opinion: it is not the same thing.

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE SITE AND ITS PUBLISHER?

A blog, an institutional site, an online media, a social network, … the nature of a site is as diverse as it is varied and can teach a lot about the quality of information. This is also the case for the publisher of the site which can be a media owned by a French or foreign group, a political party, a company, an association, an individual …

WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE SITE?

A site can aim to sell, to inform, to campaign, to convince, to manipulate, to scare or to create the buzz. Depending on the purpose of the site, the information does not have the same relevance.

HOW IS THE SITE PRESENTED?

The structure, the ergonomics, the clarity of the language, the type of advertisements, …, the presentation of a site is sometimes revealing of the credibility of the information which one finds there.

WHERE DOES THE INFORMATION COME FROM?

The sources of information are essential to determine its credibility. The origin of a number or a quote, when mentioned, allows the reader to refer to it directly. Some sites offer hypertext links to the source sites.

HAS THE INFORMATION BEEN POSTED ON OTHER SITES?

It is important to compare and cross sources. This makes it possible to see if the information is present on other platforms and to see how it is processed elsewhere.

WHEN IS THE INFORMATION DATED?

It is important to know when the related facts occurred. For example, some false news relies on images taken in different contexts and at different times to comment on a hot topic. The captions under the images, the publication date of an article, the metadata are likely to provide valuable information.

DOES THE INFORMATION HAVE INCONSISTENT DETAILS?

For example, when the image does not match the accompanying caption, this should arouse suspicion about the veracity of the information.

WHAT DO THE COMMENTS SAY?

Because they sometimes highlight the inconsistency of information, Internet user comments are useful for gauging the credibility of the information provided.