KNOW FACTS FROM FRAUD
What’s your source? This is no longer a question that only applies to journalists. The current pandemic makes it vitally important to truly know where information originates. The flood of material on social media, however, makes this task complicated and frustrating.
We know there are well-organized fraudsters working through Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other platforms to promote political agendas and otherwise mislead the public.
Gordon Pennycook is an assistant professor at the University of Regina and is an internationally recognized expert on misinformation on the internet. He says we need to check our pride when it comes to admitting that we can all be fooled.
“It doesn’t mean you are dumb,” he says, adding it is OK to accept that it is hard to always know truth from fiction.
A Canadian Journalism Foundation-earnscliffe study conducted prior to the last federal election found “40 per cent of Canadians now feel not very confident or not confident at all in their ability to tell the difference between accurate, real news reports and stories containing misinformation and fake news.”
So if you feel like you need more skills to deal with the onslaught of materials coming at you from all directions, you are not alone. There should be no shame in admitting the need to learn more about how fake news works and how to avoid being fooled.
Many of us had a slick video called Plandemic land in our inboxes and shared on our feeds in recent days, making claims that masks can be dangerous and could even make the spread of the virus worse. Further reporting and investigation revealed issues with the so-called “expert” and the opinions. It was removed from social media sites, as it was deemed to be a threat to the health of the public.
Pennycook says that the production quality of Plandemic set it apart from some of the usual, error-filled posts pushing misinformation. Its authoritative tone made it especially appealing to those who were inclined to want to agree with its message.
Perhaps the biggest threat to accurately filtering through the information coming at us online is our own biases. As Pennycook points out, we need to be self reflective and understand that we are susceptible to false posts that are consistent with what we want to believe.
If you are wondering about a website or a post, there are solid fact-checking sites you can use, including Factcheck.org, International Fact-checking Network (IFCN), Politifact. com, or Snopes.com.