With so much fake news and information circulated online, especially on social media feeds and chat groups, it can be difficult to differentiate between what’s real and what’s not.

For starters, any news, stories or hoaxes created with the specific intention to misinform or deceive readers are classified as fake news.

These types of stories are created to manipulate people’s views, push a political agenda or create confusion and make a profit out of online publishers.

While there isn’t much that can be done about fake news, there are a number of ways you can personally evaluate the content you see online and learn to spot fake news.

Here are nine tell-tale signs to look out for.

1. Determine if the headline sounds unrealistic

Read the entire article content first. Fake news often uses sensationalist or shocking headlines to grab the reader’s attention. Usually, headlines of fake news stories are capitalised and use multiple exclamation points.

2. Check the URL or website link

Does it have any odd suffixes or substitutions? Be wary of odd usages in domain names like “.com.co” as they are different and illegitimate sites designed to appear similar to the original.

3. Check the author’s credentials

Has the author published any other content before? Take a look at the byline, which may sound dubious, or if the author’s contact details are traced back to a strange email address. As a general rule, skip anonymous news reports.

4. Check for false images

Modern editing software has made it easy for people to create and design fake visuals that may look realistic. While amateur work can be easier to identify, professional work would be significantly harder to pinpoint as to whether they are authentic or not.

If you still have doubts, you can use tools such as Google Reverse Image Search to determine whether the image has been edited or utilised in the wrong context.

5. Consult and compare competing sources

Fake or biased sites tend to pick up published stories that have been edited to fit their narrative. Search for the original articles to determine the true context.

This can be helpful when it comes to quotes, which fake news sites can easily change by taking out leading sentences and using them out of context.

6. Fact check stories using sites like Snopes, Politico, and Politifact

Fact-checking is the act of determining factual information in nonfiction text to ensure the veracity and correctness of the factual statements in the text.

Here are some of the top links that you can utilise for fact-checking:

• FactCheck: This site specialises in checking up on political claims.
• Politifact: The Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact researches the claims of politicians and checks their accuracy.
• Snopes.com: Considered to be one of the oldest debunking sites on the World Wide Web, Snopes.com focuses on urban legends, news stories and memes. Snopes also cite their sources for every debunking.
• LinkedIn: A professional networking website where you can search for authors of articles and books to determine if they’re credible.

7. Dig deeper and follow up on cited sources and quotes

If you realise there is a lack of quotes and contributing sources, specifically on a controversial or serious topic, then something is amiss. Credible journalism is based on fact-gathering, so a lack of research is an indicator that what you’re reading could be fake news.

8. Check other sites reporting similar news

Look to other news sites to determine whether the story has been picked up or not. If the story you have isn’t from a well-known source or remains unverified, there’s a possibility that it could be fake news.

9. Find out if the story is satirical

Satirical sites are well-known for making a joke or parody out of popular news. Before believing everything you read, be sure to check out the website information and track record to see if they’ve been posting funny or humorous stories.

The best example of a satirical news site is “The Onion”, which started in 1996 and is well known for deliberately publishing hoaxes in an attempt to make a profit out of gullible readers.

This article first appeared in jobstore.com

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