Fake news by Szymon

 

 A wave of fake news!

Fake news - we can meet them everywhere.

Although it may seem that they are only found on social media, they can be found everywhere, for example in newspapers. But what are they actually? In this article I will try to show you what they are, how to recognise that articles you read are fake and finally I will give you some funny examples of fake news.

 

                   WHAT IS FAKE NEWS?

Fake news are articles that are not the truth, but are designed to get you interested and make you click on the title. Why do people do this? For a variety of reasons. For attention, or simply for the money they get for clicking on a website. It may seem that fake news is a product of the 21st century, but the first fake news was created as early as 1890s!

 

 

               HOW TO SPOT FAKE NEWS?

You may think spotting fake news is difficult, but here are 10 things to look out for when reading an article:

 1.  Big  red  flags  for  fake  news:  ALL  CAPS,  or  obviously  photoshopped  pics.

2.  A  glut  of  pop-ups  and  banner  ads?  Good  sign  the  story  is  pure  clickbait.

3.  Check  the  domain!  Fake  sites  often  add  “.co”  to  trust  brands  to  steal  their

luster.  (Think:  “abcnews.com.co”)

4.  If  you  land  on  an  unknown  site,  check  its  “About”  page.  Then,  Google  it

with  the  word  “fake”  and  see  what  comes  up.

5.  If  a  story  offers  links,  follow  them.  (Garbage  leads  to  worse  garbage.)  No

links,  quotes,  or  references?  Another  telltale  sign.

6.  Verify  an  unlikely  story  by  finding  a  reputable  outlet  reporting  the  same

thing.

7.  Check  the  date.  Social  media  often  resurrects  outdated  stories.

8.  Read  past  headlines.  Often  they  bear  no  resemblance  to  what  lies  beneath.

9.  Photos  may  be  misidentified  and  dated.  Use  a  reverse  image  search

engine  like  TinEye  to  see  where  an  image really comes from.

10. Gut  check.  If  a  story  makes  you  angry,  it’s  probably  designed  that  way

 

                      FUNNY ARTICLES

Finally, once you know what fake news is and how to recognise it, here are some examples of funny fake news:

1. "Hilary Clinton adopts alien baby"

2. "Bat child found in cave"

3. "Giant bats attack planes"

4. "Bigfoot vs aliens!"