Scaremongering, false claims, lies, conspiracy theories and fake news unsettle many users. Such messages always receive special attention, especially on WhatsApp. The reason: When a contact you know sends something, you usually believe what they sent to you. We have described why this is the case here .
Especially since the Corona crisis and also in the current situation with the war in Ukraine, it is very important not to become unsettled. However, this is currently not always very easy. Dangerous reports are spreading more and more quickly. Fake news or meaningless chain letters are shared every day, mostly on WhatsApp.
How can I protect myself from false reports?
WhatsApp itself has published the following information on this topic on its blog:
Labels for forwarded messages
Messages labeled "Forwarded" show you whether your friend or relative wrote the message or whether it originally came from someone else.
Watch out for biases
Pay attention to information that confirms your existing beliefs. Check the facts yourself before sharing information. Stories that seem unrealistic are often false.
Verify information using other sources
Fake news often spreads at breakneck speed. Photos, audio files and videos can be edited to mislead you. Even if a message is shared many times, it doesn't make it true. If you receive a hoax, inform the sender that they sent you incorrect information and encourage them to review messages before sharing them.
If you're not sure if information is true, check trusted news sites to see where the report came from. If something is reported by multiple sources and they are trusted sources, the information is more likely to be true. You can also consult fact-checkers or reach out to people you trust to learn more. For a list of fact-checkers who are part of the International Fact-Checking Network, see this article .
If a user consistently sends hoaxes, report them. For information about how to report a message, contact, or group, see this article .
Pay attention to messages that look unusual
Many unsolicited messages and links contain spelling or grammatical errors or requests to reveal personal information. To learn how to recognize and deal with such messages, please read this article .
Note: If you feel that you or someone else is in mental or physical danger, contact your local police. Local law enforcement agencies are prepared for such situations and can provide you with appropriate assistance.
Recognize fake news: become a fact checker in 5 steps!
You don't have to be a professional to recognize fake news! Over the course of the day, users see a lot of real news, but in between, half-true or even completely false news, the infamous fake news, is often shared by friends!
“ That’s definitely complicated! I'd rather leave it to the experts to figure this out! “, some people might think.
But the only difference between us and you is the experience we have with detecting fake news. But we also only cook with water, and in five simple steps you can check for yourself whether a report is true or just a fantasy of a more or less imaginative user.
The biggest enemy of fake news is media literacy!
There are just certain things you need to pay attention to when it comes to news and articles:
- Lots of opinion, little content?
If a report is very exaggerated, offers little content, but all the more an opinion of a certain political or religious direction, you should read more carefully to see whether this report contains credible sources at all. - Where does a message come from?
All you have to do is take a look at the imprint of the site from which the report comes... if there is an imprint, because many sites that spread fake news hide the identity of their creators. - Is the message also found on other sites?
If a report can only be found on this one site or on other sites that also have no imprint and tend to only publish reports against a certain political or religious tendency, it can be assumed that it is fake news. - Do the pictures match the message?
You often find “hybrid fakes”, i.e. fakes in which the pictures are real but the news is made up.
It's the other way around: a real report, for example a police report about an attack, is taken, greatly exaggerated, some details are invented and images are used that have nothing to do with the report. To check something like this more closely, you can use the reverse image search from search engines such as Google or Yandex. - Maybe it's just satire?
Unfortunately, the word “satire” is used excessively by fake news sites: people simply title an inflammatory article “satire” to protect themselves. On many sites the satire is obvious and funny, such as “Postillon”, while other sites only hide the information very briefly on the site or in the imprint, as they calculate that many users will believe the message and spread it further.
If you always keep these five points in mind before sharing a dubious message, you can proudly claim to have real media skills!
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

