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December 15, 2020

The Doe Discusses Spotting Fake News On Social Media



With so many people on social media these days, it's often easy to be lured in with fake news. How do you spot such fake news? It's usually fairly easy. Fake news may seem innocent at first, but as you continue reading, it may make you angry. Fake news is cleverly designed to incite anger or other strong feelings from readers. Such news may come from an unfamiliar source, or it may cleverly design itself to appear as if it's from a legitimate source. A good example is a news article that warns the readers about something like a "Category six" hurricane. Everyone who takes a moment should know that there is no such category in hurricanes.



As you begin to read, you'll also begin to note that the publisher, author, or even the website seem legit at first glance, but the more you examine the URL the more you realize that they aren't trustworthy websites or articles. Do they cite their sources? Are they making unbelievable claims?

Frequently, fake news uses a fake name for the author and for the source. Does the author's bio look credible? Are they making unbelievable claims with unbelievable information? Read the "About Us" page and give it a good hard look. There are likely some misspellings that really stand out or some information that doesn't make sense. Cross-reference your details with a reputable source and see if they match up.

Check dates. Suspicious fake articles often have a past date or a date that is far in the future. The information may have been accurate years ago, however, it's not accurate or relevant today. There are a lot of false websites out there that are satirical and will strive to take your focus off of whatever else is going on. Just keep in mind that these are satirical and not a reality today.

There are a lot of telltale signs that you can spot on a fake news story. Here are a few to watch for:

Fake website addresses

Look closely, is this really the website you think you're on? Often mainstream websites are mimicked by very similar names. Look it over carefully and watch for misspellings, alternate spellings, and little discrepancies that will tip you off.

Authors

Do you recognize the author? There are a lot of fraudulent sites out there today and many will completely omit the byline or change a few letters in a name to make it appear like someone famous or legit. Be mindful that if there are a lot of misspellings or other misinformation on the page it's likely a fake.

Claims

Are they making a lot of false claims? Is it all about how the Earth is flat? What about space missions? Be mindful of false claims and research a bit further to see if you're reading something relevant and real or if it's fake news. A good example of this is when you read that a specific celebrity has passed on. A lot of these are fake and they quickly draw attention to the person and you forget to further research. Take the time to do more research before you pass on your condolences.

Sources

Does the article cite their sources? If so, read these, if not, do more research and find out if the information is real. If the citations aren't adding up, it's likely a fake.

Errors

Are there a lot of spelling or grammatical errors? Real websites work hard to make sure that their information isn't just accurate, but also that it's free of spelling and grammatical errors. Fake news articles are full of misinformation, misspellings, and grammatical errors because they're not employing anyone to check out the content of the articles.

What You Should Do When You Spot Fake News Articles

Once you've determined that it's fake, stop sharing it immediately. If you're positive it's fake, report it to the right departments (i.e. if it's a fake bank made to look like a legit bank report it to the legit bank). Keep in mind that venting in the comments section is simply promoting the content to others. You don't want to draw more attention to the fake articles or fake news reports. You should instead stop any form of promoting the article on your page and ignore it. If possible, report it otherwise, delete or ignore it completely. You can choose to "hide, or unfollow" such articles on your wall. The more you prune out such articles the less you're going to get in the future.

Social media accounts allow you to remove, unfollow, hide, and more depending on the site.

You'll find fake news on not only Facebook (News - Alert), Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and your emails as well as in your spam mail and occasionally you'll even get it in your snail mail. Avoid Fake news and read The Doe a new radical approach to media.

Take the time to guard yourself against fake news and learn how to get rid of it. Don't share it and help to stop the spread.



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