Become your own fact checker!

Did you know that fake news on Twitter is shared much more than genuine stories? That the more times you see a story, the more you will believe in it? In short, you need to have your eyes and ears open if you want to avoid being scammed by fake news and sharing it. Here are 12 tips on how to do this.

Did you know that fake news on Twitter is shared much more than genuine stories? That the more times you see a story, the more you will believe in it? In short, you need to have your eyes and ears open if you want to avoid being scammed by fake news and sharing it. Here are 12 tips on how to do this.

Facts:

More than half of Danes encounter fake news quite often. 25 per cent said they encounter fake news ‘every day or almost every day’, while 33 per cent answered ‘at least once a week’, according to an EU study.

​

Check the study here

25 per cent encounter fake news’ every day or almost every day’

Grafik med lagkage. 25 procent oplever falske nyheder dagligt eller næsten daglig

The checklist:

07.09

I have 12 tips for you on how to check whether the content of a news story is true or false

1

Use your common sense

​

– before sharing another person’s post on Facebook, for example. Ask yourself: Can the claim or the story really be true? Does it sound a bit too fantastic or strange?

2

Check the sender

​

If it is posted from a Facebook profile, check the profile picture. If the profile picture is an animal or a drawing, or something like this, the person behind the profile probably does not want to be recognised. And if the Facebook profile only ever shares posts with (the same) political messages, it might be wise to be critical as the person clearly has an agenda, which he or she will do anything to disseminate – perhaps even with false facts.

​

If you visit a website, take a look around. Try to find out who is behind the website. If it looks like a news outlet, there should be addresses and phone numbers. These are generally missing from ‘fake’ news media websites.

07.13

An example ...

3

Check the website’s web address

​

As we know, most Danish websites end with “.dk”. Similarly, foreign websites have their ‘typical’ endings. If the address differs from what you are used to seeing, that is a red flag. Remember to look closely at the address. Some websites have a web address similar to that of mainstream media.

​

Try typing the web address into one of the ‘Internet address books’, such as www.dk-hostmaster.dk. This records who owns web addresses. But you can be deceived here too.

​

If a web address ending with “.dk” is registered in a country far away from Denmark, this may be a sign that the owner is trying to hide his/her identity. There are companies that will pretend to be the owner of a web address, for a fee. The real owner is then invisible.

In February 2017 there was a fake news story about Mette Blomsterberg, the former judge of the Danish version of the ‘Great British Bake Off’.

​

The story came from the site eb-dk.com, which could easily be confused with eb.dk. i.e. the website of the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet. 

Facts:

23 per cent of our Norwegian neighbours believe that they have shared a piece of news that later proved to be false. This comes from a survey conducted in 2017 by the Norwegian Media Authority.

23 per cent have shared fake news

23 % har delt falske nyheder

07.16

Another example...

4

Check the name of the media outlet

​

Try googling the name of the media outlet if you do not recognise it – even if it sounds plausible. If it has previously been a source of ‘fake news’, others may have found out and written about it. You may also want to check lists of online media to be extra wary of. 

​

You can obtain such a list from the  

American fact-checking body PolitiFact. 

​

The US fake media outlet Denver Guardian, whose name sounds quite plausible, is actually the sender of a large number of fake news stories. 

​

Among other things, they were behind a report stating that an FBI agent who was allegedly involved in uncovering Hillary Clinton’s use of her private e-mail server while she was Secretary of State had killed his wife and himself. There was no truth in this story.

Screenshot from webpage
Screenshot from webpage

Check if there are other media running the story

​

If you cannot find the story on mainstream media elsewhere on the web, you should recognise this as a red flag. Again, Google is a quick way to check this. 

5

Check whether the body text 

supports the headline

​

Are you sometimes too lazy to read beyond the headlines? 

You are not alone in that, and it is one of the major reasons why fake news gets around. 

​

It is a typical strategy in mainstream media to try to 

capture the reader’s attention with eye-catching and sometimes exaggerated headlines. 

​

Remember to check that the headline is actually supported by the text below before you share it.

6

07.19

“No, this is NOT a demonstration in favour of child marriage”

Check whether the image/video 

goes with the rest of the story

​

There are many examples of stories where photos or videos are put in a completely different context than the original. In this way the images can end up telling a fake story. 

​

In March 2018, a video of a demonstration in Copenhagen was shared thousands of times on Facebook and elsewhere. 

​

The text of the post described the protesters in the video as Islamists demanding the right to enter into child marriages in Denmark. But the reality was quite different. The video was several years old, and the demonstrators were protesting against the war in Syria. 

​

You can find the video on YouTube and see that it was uploaded to the streaming service several years ago

The text of the post falsely described the protesters in the video as Islamists demanding the right to enter into child marriages in Denmark.

7

8

“A recent study shows” – 

check the figures

​

The thing about figures is that they seem neutral and therefore credible – and they play a big part in political communication as well. 

​

But figures, statistics and surveys can be distorted, and even scientific studies can be misleading. There are many ways to check a study, and the type of questions depends entirely on what has been studied. 

​

As a minimum, it is a good idea to ask these three questions:

 

  • 1. How many people were questioned/studied? 
  • 2. Do they represent the group of people the study is actually about? 
  • 3. How were the questions worded in the study? Could the wording of the questions elicit specific answers?

9

Check the reason

​

Look out for causality – i.e. when one event or action is described as a direct consequence of another. 

For example, there was a report in the American media saying the car-maker Ford had brought part of its production back to the US as a reaction to Donald Trump being elected President. This story was shared many times over. 

It is true that production was moved to the US, but this happened in 2015, long before the presidential election.

10

Check people, quotations and places

​

You may have seen this quotation from US President Trump. 

​

Back in 1998 he is supposed to have told People Magazine that Republican voters were so stupid that they would vote for him even though he was lying. The quotation started circulating on social media in 2015, when Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency. However, it was fabricated, and has been refuted by People Magazine.

A fake story will often mention people who are quoted as saying something. This enhances the credibility of the story. But do you recognise the person? Can you google them? If there is a reference to something they have said, you can try googling the quotation. 

Mentioning a city or a country, for example, gives the impression that an event has actually taken place. However, there are examples of the same fake story appearing in different online media but mentioning different places.

Screendump with false quote from Peopleple Magazine

11

Gut feeling – does the story 

make you mad?

​

A fake story is often written to provoke reactions on e.g. social media. 

​

If a message or a fake story elicits strong feelings in you, there is reason to be wary. It might be a political message or an article that says that a famous person has died – although it’s not true. 

​

The senders are often media outlets that make money from clicks, shares, likes and followers (also called ‘clickbait media’). This allows the sender to display ads to followers at a particular time. And the more followers the sender has, the more money he or she can earn.

12

Check the fact-checkers

​

Besides the Danish fact-checking site TjekDet.dk there are around 150 fact-checking sites globally. For an overview check out: global fact-checking sites.

​

Fact-checking sites from selected countries: 

​

Denmark: 

TjekDet.dk

DR’s Detektor

​

Sweden: 

Viralgranskaren 

Faktiskt 

​

Norway: 

Faktisk

​

Several of these tips come from an article in Danish on tjekDet.dk, which you can read here

Thomas Hedin is the editor of the Danish fact-checking site TjekDet.dk. The site was launched by the weekly ‘Ugebrevet Mandag Morgen’ with the aim of checking the statements and information 

’… constantly magazine circulating in the public debate. Particularly on social media’. 

​

He also travels in  Denmark and talks about how we can all get better at spotting fake news and  avoid spreading it on social media.