This is how you can recognize fake news!

Technological ways out of the jungle of facts

On the one hand, the technological possibilities make it possible to create and spread deceptively real fake news. On the other hand, highly developed forensic methods now also make it possible to detect image, video or audio manipulation. Using software or an app, technically used markings – similar to watermarks in conventional image or video material – can be identified and the origin of a medium can thus be determined.

Users can also use Google Image reverse search To do this, the image must be uploaded to the search engine. The search will identify the websites that contain the image, other sizes of the image, and similar images. If images appear in a completely different context or have been appearing on the Internet for years, these are indications of false reports.

Six important aspects for a source check

Instructions and checklists for a step-by-step and conscientious review of news reports are another helpful and everyday tool against fake news. The six most important aspects can be found listed here:

1. Design features: How is the message designed?
   A lurid writing style, an emotionally oriented text, lots of exclamation marks and question marks combined with spectacular images – these could all be indications of fake news. With this style, the content takes a back seat: eye-catching packaging is intended to attract readers. Interests such as profit or propaganda could be behind the offer.
2. Check origin: Who is the author?
   Is there an imprint? Check whether an author has been specified. Can't find any relevant information directly on the article? Then the authorship should possibly be concealed. If an imprint is also missing, suspicion is warranted and the content may be dubious. In Germany there is an obligation to provide an imprint for commercial offers that do not serve purely personal or family purposes.
3. Source research: What do other sources say?
   To get an overall picture of a situation, research other sources and compare the facts presented. Pay attention to the context and time period in which the information and images appear. You should also use sources from other countries or in other languages. Sometimes translation errors cause misinformation.
4. Search engine check: Where does a message originate?
   If you receive a message via a messenger, you can check the contents in a search engine. Copy parts of the message into a search engine field and search for the origin. Then filter the results for contradictory statements. You may find background information that will help you get the bigger picture.
5. Facts and figures: Is the information plausible and up-to-date?
   Check whether the text, image, video or audio file has a creation date. Check whether the figures and facts mentioned are plausible and up-to-date. If studies are cited, you can check the original study to see whether the information provided is correct. Does the news appear among fact checkers like us? Here, dubious information is checked for its truthfulness. It could be an outdated report that has already been identified as fake news.
6. Images, videos and audio files: Technically checking forgeries
   Images, audios and videos are now difficult to identify as fakes because they appear deceptively real. If you are still suspicious because the medium shows something unusual or does not fit with the previous information, you can use screenshots to search for the origin Google Image Search or TinEye If a video is available to you as a YouTube link, you can enter it into the YouTube Dataviewer . It then determines the exact upload time of the video and shows you the preview images that can be seen before the video starts.

Source and thanks to Anja Franz from the Baden-Württemberg State Media Center

Tips from the Mimikama team

1. Skepticism

No matter what message flashed onto your Facebook timeline or sent to you on WhatsApp: skepticism is always the first hurdle. Is a report or article presented in a sensational way? Does the content serve a specific group, such as anti-immigrants or animal lovers? Is an article more of an opinion? If keywords are used that are often in quotation marks, for example “ The so-called “vaccination” is only there…. “ or “ The plandemic shows….. ”? It is particularly clear from vilified words that an article wants to convey an opinion and is less interested in facts.

2. The source

Many articles appear, at least on the surface, to be somewhat serious, so that they seem quite credible, but eloquence is no substitute for facts!
It is then worth not just looking at this one article on a site, but also getting an overview of the other articles. You can often see that a site, for example, only reports on a few topics and that these always sound negative, for example only directed against certain parties or only reporting against a certain topic.
This is not the only distinguishing feature, as many pages only have a few topics and are directed against various companies, for example pages of environmental protection organizations. This point alone does not indicate fake news; other distinguishing features are also important. It is also often worth taking a look at the imprint of a site.
Is it even there? If yes: Are the names and addresses of the creators of a page given? Many fake news spreaders write in German, but are based abroad, often with a PO box address to protect themselves from prosecution. Especially when it comes to very bizarre reports, it's worth taking a look at the imprint, as it is usually noted there that it is a purely satirical site or a site where everyone can write their own messages.

3. Other sources

Evidence has emerged that Adolf Hitler was cloned, but only this one site reports it?
Then you can be sure that it is fake news, because a lot more media pounce on really sensational news! Sometimes you can also find more sources for a claim - but they are often exactly the same wording, because fake news media often only copy the message from one side and refer to the source at the end. We often get inquiries as to whether a particular, prominent person has really died, and Google is really the easiest tool! Especially when a celebrity dies, a lot of reputable media reports about it. For example, dubious sites repeatedly report that Hillary Clinton was executed or Bill Gates was arrested, but then not only these individual sites but pretty much every press organ would report about it!

4. Do the images match the message?

A picture says more than 1,000 words?
Unfortunately not always, because images are often misused to create fake news! This is because often not entire articles are distributed, but simply sharepics that convey fake news. A well-known example from 2021 is the alleged nude photo of Annalena Baerbock. The photo was not manipulated, but does not show Ms. Baerbock at a young age, but another woman who only vaguely resembles the politician ( we reported ). A simple reverse image search helped us (we explain how to do this HERE ).
You can check videos really professionally with the InVID Verification Plugin for Firefox and Chrome, because the plugin breaks videos down into individual images, which you can then search on Google to find the original source of a video.
This is a little more time consuming, but often worth it! For example, a certain Bernd Klein, who is better known by a stage name with a doctorate, distributed a video that was supposed to prove that the heads of vaccinated people explode. Apparently not only we, but also other people used InVID tools, because the article with the video, which showed a completely different situation, was deleted again before we could write an article about it.

5. Hoaxsearch – Our search engine for fake news

We've been reporting on fakes and hoaxes for almost 11 years now, and a lot has accumulated!
Experience has shown that many false claims and nonsensical chain letters are repeated again and again, so we have already written articles on many topics. In order to find articles on a specific topic more quickly, we https://www.hoaxsearch.com/ . This allows you to search for specific topics and keywords and find the relevant articles straight away.

Let's summarize

• Since basically anyone can write whatever they want on the Internet, skepticism appropriate
• The reliability of the source is also an important factor: If a source has often spread fake news, you should not blindly trust the truth of a current report
• If only a few or just one source reports something, there is also a need for mistrust, because other sources would then also report on a situation that is worthy of “breaking news”.
• Images and text must fit together, because often an image or video does not show what is claimed in the text
• A search with fact checkers often helps, be it our Hoaxsearch or our colleagues at dpa , AFP , Tagesschau , Correctiv or Snopes . And no, we're not all in this together, but we're all pulling in the same direction: fighting fake news!

So you can see that you don't necessarily have to have specialist knowledge to be able to recognize fake news, but it is enough if you acquire some basics of media literacy. Then don't let dubious chain letters on Facebook and WhatsApp or overly sensationalistic claims lead you into virtual black ice!