Truth and fiction – Recognising Fake News: An Introduction

Like it or not, we are surrounded by fake news. Sometimes in the traditional media, but above all in the electronic media, the Internet, social media, chat forums, in groups and also in conversation with acquaintances, family and loved ones. Misleading information appears, sometimes totally invented, sometimes based on actual information, but manipulated, and sometimes real information is presented so that the picture of the world is distorted.

The transcription of the video

Like it or not, we are surrounded by fake news. Sometimes in the traditional media, but above all in the electronic media, the Internet, social media, chat forums, in groups and also in conversation with acquaintances, family and loved ones. Misleading information appears, sometimes totally invented, sometimes based on actual information, but manipulated, and sometimes real information is presented so that the picture of the world is distorted.

There is not much we can do about the presence of fake news. What we can do, however, is think about how to keep from falling prey to false information, how to guard ourselves against the damage that might be caused by believing information that been created not to amuse us, but to inject a bit of confusion in how we perceive the world, and how to avoid getting damaged by actions that are consciously taken against us.

Contact with fake news can cause a host of effects, and its creators have various aims. Sometimes they aim to strip us of our assets, sometimes they aim to make us choose a political option, choose this or that therapy for our illness, view a neighbouring or faraway country in a certain way. Sometimes they aim to change our view of the world. The aims of swindlers, manipulators and fake news creators differ, but what joins them is the fact that, by affecting us, they reach their goal, not ours. As a result, it is hard to imagine a person believing in fake news to their own advantage.

What can we do about it? We cannot limit our access to fake news. But we can limit our ‘susceptibility’ to falling for it. We can cut down the risk of believing false information and minimize the costs of possibly believing in information that has been created to harm us.

How can we do this? Above all, we must use our heads. This is our most powerful tool and nothing can compete with it. But our head works better if it receives solid prompts, when it gets a particular structure or tool to help it deal better with the fake news. And this is why I invite you to dive into these three articles and one recording, to help you out. These materials were created as part of the ‘Perspectives – One Europe, Many Stories’ project, coordinated by the Goethe Institute and supported by the European Union.

In the first article you will come across the basic issues tied to fake news, the scale of the phenomenon, kinds of fake news and ways this information reaches us. And here I might mention a bit of information that could be intriguing and surprising. Research carried out in Poland this year shows that social media is not at all the main place where we encounter fake news. Where is that? Read on.
The second article shows why we believe fake news is true. What elements of information make it seem more credible to us? What gives even false information the impression of being true? This article, I hope, will sensitise you to the fact that not everything that seems reliable is reliable.

Finally, the third article is more instrumental. It main part is a presentation of the CRAAP model, which helps to analyse information to check if it is real or not. Of course, it makes little sense to scrutinise every bit of information we come across, which would be practically impossible; but if information is important and we think it could result in certain costs or possibly changes in our life, it is worth examining. The CRAAP model helps us confirm it is true, false or maybe ambiguous and requires closer investigation.

I also invite you to hear the recording of a conversation with Beata Frankiewicz, a specialist in building cybersecurity awareness, working at the State Research Institute at NASK – a large agency dealing with various technology-related issues in Poland, including cybersecurity. During this conversation, Beata says how Internet swindlers try to access our assets, how they trick us, and what we can do to prevent them. We should note that, despite what we may think, Internet scams are more seldom technological in nature, more seldom involve someone breaking into our computer, breaking through our e-mail password, and are more frequently psychological; the swindlers break through to our senses, to our hearts, they play on our emotions.

Acquainting ourselves with these materials will not guarantee we never fall prey to fake news. But first of all, it reduces the risk we will believe false information, and secondly, it might limit the price we pay for believing it. Yes, I encourage you to read, to listen and to move safely through a world full of fake news. Good luck!