Click Here!!! Ohh no, Fake News

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Human beings who have lived in the last twenty years in the globalized world have obviously used the internet. According to the United Nations, internet access is a basic human right. The internet is a global computer network that provides so much information and communication facilities, but that doesn’t mean that all the information given is a hundred percent real. Fake news is as old as the normal news industry, misinformation, tricks, hoaxes, propaganda, jokes, and even memes have long been in existence. Some people think they are so clever that they can trick society to believe many of their lies, and the worst part is that it’s true. There are many types of fake news: deliberate misinformation, false headlines, social media sharing, and satire. On March 18th of the year 2020, around fifty-two percent of the Americans felt that the information on online website was reporting fake news. 34% of the Americans felt that occasionally the news reported online was fake, and only nine percent thought that it was real news. But, how can society identify fake news? The purpose of this article is to show and persuade the readers to apply some simple and easy steps while using the internet to be safe around all the fake news roaming around.

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First Step:

The readers need to become a spy. Why a spy? The audience is asking, well the people who are reading information from the internet should do a background check from the author who wrote that article, blog post, essay or even that tweet, only for being sure that the author has good prestige and that he or she is not known for lying and giving wrong information.

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Second Step:

The readers need to open their eyes and see clearly the headlines and the dates. It’s very known that fake new’s authors put in their headlines some scandalous words or outrageous statements, and this article recommends the audience to see when was the post posted because it can be twenty years old and the readers may not even notice.

 

Third Step:

Is it a joke? Does the story cause feelings of anger or excitement? What the purpose? These are the three main questions the readers should ask themselves.

 

Fourth Step:

Always remember to check the date! Sometimes reposts from a long time ago may passing around and provoke confusion and be irrelevant to the current events.

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Fifth Step:

Most of the fake news will always try to catch the eye and attention of the reader, either by the colorful design or by the scandalous headline and topic. So, before clicking, checking other reliable sources like Google, snopes.com, etc, to see if it's exists or the information matches.

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Sixth Step:

Do not share or click on an article or headline where the title, topic, or information causes feelings of anger, confusion, indignation or extreme excitement. Staying calm is the way, since the reader could be falling on the trap of fake news.

 

Seventh Step:

When unsure, looking into other sources to see if the information matches and if it is true. It is always better to look at the topic from different point of views to learn and know the best from it.
 

Eighth Step:

Remember of the confidential friends: politifact.com, and snopes.com that are sites that will always be there to support and investigate to find whether the story is true or not. So these eight steps are easy and simple to follow always. Applying these and making it a habit every time before researching something for any political, economic, social, or current topic for any project, study, class, etc, these are the steps that will lead to the correct direction and truth.

 

This doesn’t have to be applied on an important event or timing, maybe just surfing around the internet and social media on the phone may appear some news or headline that catches the reader’s attention and that it completely convincing that it is true, but it is not. But always remembering that there is the possibility that it may happen also in vice versa, so with these steps, it will always be safe and sure. This will also help the whole internet community by avoiding on being one more viewer to the fake news for it to spread on a higher and more popular note.