Misinformation and Media Literacy: Identifying Fake/Misleading...

How can you tell mis-/disinformation from credible news? What are the red flags? 

If one or more of the following characteristics is present in a news story, it very likely contains misinformation. 

• You only see the story on social media (TikTok, X /Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and few, if any other, reputable news sources are covering the same story. 
  Look at other reputable, respected news sources. Are they covering the same story? Probably not.
  What reputable, respected news sources should you consult? This is by no means a complete list, but try these: 
  The Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, CBS, Newsy, UPI, PBS, NPR, Military Times, LA Times, CNBC, Voice of America, NBC, USA Today, The Hill, AFP, Roll Call, Al Jazeera. 
  • Looking for one website with a variety of news sources with different perspectives? Try AllSides.com! 
     
• Misleading/heavily biased news stories tend to use emotionally charged language. 
  Does the source convey an upsetting tone? Does it attempt to make the reader angry, fearful or sad? Does it incite or call for rash action on the part of the reader, such as doxing individuals?
   
• Misleading/heavily biased news sources often have unusual or odd domain names and/or url tags.
  Does the domain name itself attempt to strongly brand its website? (Infowars, AddictingInfo, ConspiracyWire, ImmediateSafety) Does the url end in .co (ABCNews.com.co) or .de (CNN.com.de)? Is the website's domain name a slight misspelling of another more reputable website? (theatlantic.com vs. theatlatnic.com) This, by the way, is called "typosquatting."  
   
• Watch out for fake "re-branding"!
  Fake news sites, in an attempt to circumvent the publishing policies of various outlets and platforms, will often create a newly rebranded website on which they publish the same exact stories that may have gotten them banned on a previous outlet or platform. So if you see two highly similar news stories on different websites, check to see how long  both websites have been around. Are they newly created? What can you learn from their About Us page, if they have one? Use sources like DomainBigData.com, ICANN Lookup and whois.net to find out about the history of a website.
  
  
• Watch out for "pink slime" websites.
  Similar to re-branding, these types of sites are typically very low-quality, consisting of shallow, trivial, clickbait content designed to generate maximum viewership and ad revenue. These types of sites may even be partially or fully created by Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), so being able to discern the signs of such content can be helpful. 
   
• Little to no information about the author/source is provided.
  Transparency is a pre-requisite for credibility. 'Writers' for fake news sites will often re-use and re-package content from other sites (and other authors) with no attribution. If the news source does not provide information about the author, you should be wary of its legitimacy.   
   
• Misleading news stories are often proliferated from fake social media accounts

  Getting an exact percentage is challenging but a growing number of social media accounts are believed to be fake, perhaps 50-75% or even more. Social media platforms have reported removing billions of fake accounts in recent years. However, studies have found that they often leave the majority of these reported fake accounts active, with one study estimating that 95% of fake accounts are still active three weeks after being reported.
  Sources
  Facebook says took down 1.3 billion fake accounts in Oct-Dec | Reuters
  Why can't the social networks stop fake accounts? | New York Times
  Fake accounts on social media, epistemic uncertainty and the need for an independent auditing of accounts | Internet Policy Review 
  Social media platforms leave 95% of reported fake accounts up, study finds | ArsTechnica