What to do about fake news?

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The school year is almost over. Robert is really looking forward to it. But then comes the shock: he receives a message on WhatsApp. It says: This year the vacations will be postponed because of the many school cancellations. Robert wonders what will happen to his vacation and the sports camp. But can this really be true?

Fake news is fake news that appears today, especially on social networks and messengers, with the aim of deceiving people and influencing their opinions. The reasons why people write and spread fake news vary widely.

Recognizing fake news

Some people invent Fake News out of hatred and thereby want to insult, exclude or disparage other people or ethnic groups. Others create Fake News to change political opinions and to create sentiment against certain political decisions. Still others create fake news to get clicks on websites and to earn money with it.

Social media users contribute to the spread of fake news when they simply forward reports without checking them. How quickly false information can spread and be retained in this way is underestimated in social networks not only by children and young people, but also by adults.

So how do you tell true from false? It is not always easy to correctly classify the variety of information and sources. The following tips will help you recognize fake news and stop it from spreading.

Exaggerated accounts and missing sources can be signs of fake news.

Anyone who finds a news story suspicious should use a search engine to check the keywords in the news story and match the statements. Is the news also carried by larger media outlets and do other media outlets provide additional or different information?

It is always worth taking a look at the source page of the information. Is there an imprint, name and address? Reputable portals and platforms provide transparent information.

Does a picture really belong to the message as claimed or to another one? With photos, the image search can help to unmask fakes. For example, you can use the reverse search function of search engines. Right-click on the image, copy the image URL and then paste it into the image search. If, for example, the image appears frequently on dubious sites, this may be a sign of a hoax.

Some social networks such as Facebook offer functions to report fake news. Internet users can also report fake news on platforms such as the research portal Correctiv. The Mimikama initiative also operates Hoaxsearch a search engine that provides results on educational reports.

Classifying fake news correctly

Many humans made already experiences in the private or vocational surrounding field with humans, who spread wrong messages or persons, who are close to one, speak for example over "the media" or even of "the lying press", as if all journalists and Medienmacher would be under a cover. A YouTube video may be used as "proof" for a statement.

These conversations often follow a pattern: someone claims something where there are clear culprits responsible for a problem. Depending on the enemy image, this could be refugees, politicians or the press. These statements may sound wrong, but being able to really refute them at the same moment is not easy. After all, it takes time and research to correctly classify a complex issue. But why is it hard to respond appropriately to a conspiracy narrative?

Acting is not always easy

If you encounter conspiracy narratives or fake news, one thing above all is important: to take a stand, to act and thus to show civil courage. The five-phase model of prosocial behavior by Bibb Latane and John Darley, which is well known in psychology, can provide assistance for one's own moral courage. In order to overcome one's own obstacles to action, it can help to become aware of individual phases of this model.

When you observe a situation in which someone relays a conspiracy narrative, the first thing you have to do is perceive the statement as problematic. This sounds trivial, but it is not - certainly not when conversations are casual or under stress.

If you hear a strange story, for example, within a group, if the others don't react, you might quickly think you've misunderstood something. Thus, if everyone present assumes that there is no problem because the others are not acting, then no one is acting. Psychology calls this "pluralistic ignorance."

Once a situation has been perceived as problematic, it is important to take responsibility oneself. Because often enough it happens that people think to themselves: Why should I say something and risk something? Let someone else do the job!

It is not always pleasant to contradict someone. Especially when you don't have an exact answer to a question or don't know much about the topic at hand.

Only when the previous phases have been gone through do people act and show moral courage. This is not always easy, especially when confronting a conspiracy narrative. Convinced conspiracy ideologues often have building blocks in place and build a sometimes complex worldview from misinformation. For example, only innuendos are dropped, making criticism very difficult.

But it is important: Crude theses and ideas, especially if they are anti-human, should not be left unchallenged. It is important to act instead of remaining silent.

Facts are not always enough to counter every piece of misinformation. But in a discussion, it is always worthwhile to ask where the information comes from. You can then check them on fact-checking sites like Mimikama or correctiv.org - and thus identify the news about the postponed school vacations as false relatively easily, as in Robert's case.

Read more in the "Digital learning" dossier.