What is fake news?
Fake news is the dissemination of false information or news through any type of internet or media platform for personal gain. This distinguishes fake news from misinformation, which is inaccurate information created or shared by accident with no intent to deceive whereas sharing fake news is done intentionally. An all-time high of 76% of people worldwide identified concerns about using misleading information or fake news as weapons. To trick us into believing false information is real, malicious actors play on our psychology. As a result, it can be challenging to tell true news from fake news on social media.
We can spot fake news by using quantitative measures and natural language processing techniques based on human cognition and behavioral science theories.
Types of fake news
Parody or satire (no intention to cause harm but has the potential to fool)
False connection (when headlines, visuals, or captions don’t support the content)
Deceptive information (misleading use of information to frame an issue or an individual)
Untrue context (when genuine content is shared with false contextual information)
False content (when genuine sources are impersonated with false, made-up sources)
Manipulated content (when genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive, as with a “doctored” photo)
Fabricated content (new content is 100% false, designed to deceive and do harm)
Detecting fake news
Fake news articles are typically published by satirical news websites or individuals with an incentive to spread false information, either as clickbait or to serve a purpose. Many factors must be considered when determining a source of information, but not limited to the content of the email and social media engagements. The language in fake news is typically more inflammatory than in real news because the goal is to confuse and generate clicks. On top of that, researchers have discovered that visual cues play a role in categorizing an article; specifically, some features can be designed to assess if a picture was legitimate, providing us with more clarity on the news. Many social context features, as well as the model of spreading news, can also play a role.
Social networks and false news
Due to the adoption of social media as a legitimate and widely used platform, there is a great deal of concern about fake news in this domain. Because the spread of fake news on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram has the potential to have extremely negative consequences for society, new fields of research into spam detection on social networks are gaining traction. However, detecting fake news on social media creates problems that render previous data mining and detection techniques ineffective.
As a result, researchers are urging more research into fake news as it relates to psychology and social theories, as well as the adaptation of current algorithms for data mining to apply to social media networks. Besides that, a number of research articles have been published, urging the field to continue its efforts to discover automatic ways to filter fake news out of social networking timelines.
Bots on social media
Bots have the potential to spread fake news because they use algorithms to determine what articles and information specific users like, without considering the authenticity of an article. Bots mass-produce and spread articles regardless of the credibility of the sources, allowing them to play an important role in the mass spread of fake news, as bots are capable of creating fake accounts and personalities on the web, which then gain followers, recognition, and authority. Furthermore, these software bots are responsible for nearly 30% of all spam and content spread on the Internet.
How do differentiate between real news and fake news?
Examine the Domain
Many fake news stories mimic reputable news sources by using URLs and domain names that are similar to them.
Examining the ending of the URL is one of the best ways to determine whether a site is legitimate, as these fake sites frequently use something like “.com.co,” as opposed to the actual site’s “.com.”
Just as you should never enter personal information into your bank’s website without first confirming that it isn’t a phishing site, you should double-check the URLs of news sites in social media posts.
What sources did the authors use?
Links to other credible reporting by respected organizations are included in good news stories.
They include interviews with people who can confirm or deny making a claim. They are backed up by evidence, dates, and other data that can be verified.
Be cautious of sources who cannot back up their claims. Sometimes a source may sound credible in a piece, only to discover that no such person exists.
Snickersnee, for example, published an article about the return of bottlenose dolphins to Lake Michigan.
- If you were unfamiliar with the site, it appeared legitimate at first glance, even quoting a scientist from the Great Lakes Fish and Water Quality Society.
However, such a scientist or organization does not exist, and dolphins have never been found in the Great Lakes.
Check the facts
When in doubt, double-check the information you’ve read.
You can begin by conducting a simple search using the keywords or the event being reported.
Fact-checking is a process that seeks to validate factual information in order to increase the veracity and accuracy of reporting.
Fact-checking can be done before or after the text is published or distributed in another way. Internal fact-checking is done in-house by the publisher; external fact-checking occurs when the text is analyzed by a third party.
Types of fact-checking
Ante hoc fact-checking: It seeks to identify errors in the text so that it can be corrected or rejected before it is distributed. Post-hoc fact-checking is typically followed by a written report of inaccuracies, which may include a visual metric provided by the checking organization. Post-hoc fact-checking organizations include FactCheck.org and PolitiFact in the United States, as well as Full Fact in the United Kingdom.
External post-hoc fact-checking: These organizations first emerged in the United States in the early 2000s, and the concept gained popularity and spread to a number of other countries during the 2010s.
Following-up fact-checking
- In the early 2000s, independent organizations began to conduct post-hoc fact-checking. In the 2010s, particularly following Donald Trump’s election as US President in 2016, fact-checking has increased in popularity and spread to a large number of countries, predominantly in Europe and Latin America. However, the United States remains the most significant market for fact-checking.
- Sites like PolitiFact, Fact Check, and Snopes, can also be used which are highly reputable fact-checking websites for a variety of issues and topics (not just politics).
Take a glance over the website thoroughly
It is crucial to think about not just one story but the complete scope of information available on the website.
Is there another fictitious or shocking headline out there? What is the outward appearance of the website? What is the overall user experience?
A little more investigation can sometimes reveal whether or not a news story is false.
However, this can be difficult because many fake news websites purposefully mislead visitors. They may resemble the real thing, right down to the masthead logo.
Remember that sites like BBC.com and NYTimes.com employ teams of web professionals, including UX and UI specialists.
A reputable website is unlikely to be slow to load, clunky, or difficult to use.
Similarly, while not impossible, obvious spelling or grammar errors do not usually make it through the proofing and editing process.
Look into Wikipedia and Google it to double-check the facts
Although it may come as a surprise, Wikipedia is an excellent resource for identifying fake news websites.
It keeps an up-to-date list of fake news websites. This list includes sites such as American News, which has created disinformation that has been shared on social media, as well as satire sites and those that have been used to spread malware.
Google added Fact Check Tools to its toolbox in 2022 to combat false information and assist fact-checkers, journalists, and researchers in their work.
This collection of over 150,000 fact-checks enables users to access information from “reputable publishers” all over the world, ensuring the integrity of the information.
Google will then pull information from its trusted publisher network to provide you with quick fact-checking.
Be aware of content with poor grammatical and lexical structure
False news producers are aware that you are not going to put in as much effort when you surf social media as you would in other circumstances; after all, you are there to learn things or have fun, not to work.
As a result, they try to avoid making it cognitively costly for you to process the content.
This makes it more appealing to your brain and increases the likelihood that you will believe it and share it with other members of your network.
Do not genuinely believe the news that is trying to evoke emotion or appeal to your moral values
All behavioral science research indicates that humans are not as rational as we believe. Our emotions have a strong influence on our mental processes and decision-making.
That is why fake content creators try to exploit them so that we are unable to rationally determine whether the content we are reading is true or not.
They try to manipulate our emotions by instilling anger, fear, or sorrow in order to obscure our rationality.
They also use strategies to make us believe that our social identities – our nationality, gender, and opinions – are under attack, creating the impression of enemies outside our group who threaten our very existence.
Again, the sense of being attacked activates psychological mechanisms that cause us to behave less rationally and reduce our ability to discern between what is real and what is false.
To begin with, social media companies must be aware that their platforms provide unprecedented access to information, which is extremely beneficial, but that their platforms are also being used by malicious actors who exploit user psychology to pursue economic or political ends.
On the other hand, the findings are a wake-up call to public policymakers to be more concerned about the population’s alarmingly low levels of media literacy.
Technology advances at a much faster rate than in psychology, education, or policymaking. This will cause problems for our societies if we do not work harder to solve the problems we already have and the problems that will arise in the future.
General legal and criminal sanctions
The use of anonymously hosted fake news websites has made libel prosecutions against fake news sources difficult.
Several countries have enacted legislation to regulate or prosecute harmful misinformation in general, rather than just with a focus on technology companies. People have been arrested in numerous countries for allegedly spreading false information about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Algerian lawmakers passed a law making “fake news” illegal if it threatens “public order and state security.”
The Turkish Interior Ministry has arrested people on social media for “targeting officials and spreading panic and fear by implying the virus had spread widely in Turkey and that officials had taken insufficient measures.”
According to Iran’s military, 3600 people were killed and arrested for “spreading rumors” about COVID-19 throughout the country In Cambodia, some people who expressed concern about the spread of COVID-19 were arrested on false news charges. The UAE has imposed criminal penalties for spreading misinformation and rumors about the outbreak.
In India, there is no specific law related to fake news that prevents fake news, because Article 19 of the constitution of India which guarantees freedom of speech also provides the freedom of publication of news. But the Section 505-statement relating to public mischief says that “if any person publishes any information or rumor that causes fear among the public, such a person shall be punished with 5 years imprisonment, a fine, or both.
Conclusion
To combat fake news, you can use a variety of digital tools. The RAND Corporation, an American global policy think tank, has compiled a list of digital tools for combating online disinformation. These range from browser extensions, such as BotSlayer, which helps track and detect manipulated information on Twitter, to verification and bias-checking tools, such as NewsCheck Trust Index, to collections of resources that promote media literacy skills, such as NewseumED.
The issue of fake news is serious in the digital era. Furthermore, it is not ultimately a matter of views or opinions. No matter what your opinions are, the facts remain the same. Even if it may not be convenient for some, the water is still wet and the ice cream is still cool. While social media networks are working to find answers to this problem, a large portion of the responsibility ultimately rests with you, the user. But because of this, it is crucial that everyone contributes to stopping the spread of false information.
Every news report, video, and social media post should be viewed with caution. Even if the source of the information is trustworthy, at the end of the day, they are still just human. And that implies that, like everyone else, they are susceptible to being misled by false information, flawed data, or misquoted passages. Share phony news sparingly on social media.
Don’t do this since you’re boosting its visibility, even if you’re only sharing it for how absurd it is. Inform your friends and family members through messaging if they are spreading false information. And make careful to state how you were able to tell it was a phony. Additionally, be sure to post a remark stating why the story is false and how you came to that conclusion if it has a comment area.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some businesses are starting to pay attention after being accused of aiding in the dissemination of false information. Both Facebook and Google have committed to stop advertising with websites that distribute fake news. Facebook then went a step further, announcing partnerships with fact-checking organizations to try to indicate when stories may be fake news, as well as streamlining the reporting of fake news and visually flagging disputed stories.
