Di
I read it online and I even saw a photo.
A photo!
It must be true, right?
Wrong. Turns out sometimes the news you find
on the Internet isn't real.
It's what we call fake news.
Sometimes the story starts as a joke
and then somebody takes it seriously and it spreads.
But why would anybody waste their time
inventing a fake news story?
It's click bait.
The more people click on an interesting sounding story,
the more people will see the ads on that web page
and that equals money
and sometimes people just want to spread their own ideas
or beliefs without backing them up with any facts at all.
Vote for me and I'll turn all rivers and ice cream by 2020.
That's a promise.
You mean that's not true?
I read that one online, like, a week ago!
Oh I love ice cream.
So, how can you tell if a news story is fake?
I know this one.
Watch out for: no eyewitnesses,
or quotes, and phony experts in a story,
pictures that might have been photo shopped,
headlines written in capital letters
with lots of exclamation points.
Yep, that's right.
Those things are all good indicators that the story
you're reading is fake.
Here's a few more.
Lots of pop ups and banner ads.
Lots of broken links.
No authors name and incomplete information
in the
Also, check the date the story was written.
Is this just an old story that's been recycled?
Are any other major websites reporting the same thing?
If not, the story probably isn't real.
And check the website address.
Fake URL's usually try to copy real websites,
often by adding unnecessary words and domains.
A basic rule of thumb...
..if you aren't sure that a story is real, don't share it.
Hey, look!
the banana company is giving away free bPhones.
All I have to do is share this article with 500
of my friends and I could get a free--
Oh. Right.
[sighs]
Both: Fake news.
♪ [light]