So many fake news stories have gone viral this past month. But do you know which of these stories were real and which were rumours, hoaxes or completely made up? Take our 2023 quiz to see how good you are at spotting the facts from the fakes!
What is fake news?
"Fake news" is a term that people use to describe stories about people, places and events that are not true. For example, made up things spread on social media to make someone look bad, or opinions that get taken out of context and assumed to be facts.
Why do people make fake news
There are 2 different types of fake news, which explain the different reasons that someone might end up making or sharing a fake story:
- Misinformation = when people get things wrong by accident, or when jokes or rumours end up being taken seriously and spread things that aren鈥檛 true
- Disinformation = when people deliberately make things up and share them to present their opinions as facts or spread lies about someone
You can remember it by the letters that begin each word鈥
- MISinformation is when MIStakes create fake news
- DISinformation is when someone creates fake news to DISS another person on purpose
How to identify fake news
If you're not sure if something on your socials is true, look for other sources of information that are talking about the story and see if you can find other places to back up what they're saying. Always look for the other side of the story and try to question any biases you might have.
Fake news often has opinions presented as facts, or errors in how they've reported on something - look out for anything that seems outrageous or beyond belief.
Always try and get your news from places that can be trusted, where the people writing the stories are not bringing their own opinions into the report and are just giving you the facts so you can make up your own mind.
