Slide Deck 4: Online Verification Skills

Is this a castle house in Ireland? Yes or no? Write down your answer?

Did a squirrel get prosthetic wheels? Yes or no? Write down your answer?

Did world leaders huddle around Russian President Putin? Yes or no? Write down your answer?

Discussion Do you always believe what you see online? How do you know what you see online is true? Have you ever been fooled? What criteria do you use to assess if something is true or trustworthy?

Fact-check This is Ko Tapu, an island in Thailand, which does not include a castle

Fact-check This Turkish squirrel lost its paws in a mouse trap, and did, in fact, get prosthetic wheels

Vladimir Putin was digitally added to this photo Fact-check Vladimir Putin was digitally added to this photo

What is ‘fake news’? The term ‘fake news’ has become popular but there is a debate about what it means since the term is used by people for different reasons

What is ‘information pollution’ There are many types of false and poor-quality information that circulate online This larger problem is called ‘information pollution’ The online environment is huge and complex It is hard to figure out where information is coming from and whether it is real or truthful

False information online The internet makes it easy to create wrong information, and for it to spread quickly. There are two main types: Misinformation is false information, but the person sharing it believes it to be true. Its intent is not to cause harm. Disinformation is false information that is deliberately created and shared to cause harm. It has the goal of confusing people about what is true, and influencing how they think and act.

Misinformation

Disinformation False information can be designed to mislead and achieve a political goal. For example, telling people they can vote through Twitter. Disinformation from 2016 US presidential election

Why do people create false information? Financial Reasons: One big motive is to make money through page views (clicks) and advertising dollars Political Reasons: Another reason is to mislead people and to encourage them to adopt certain political attitudes and behaviours

How does false information spread? • Those who produce false or misleading reports know content that provokes a strong emotion makes us want to share without fact-checking • The mechanics of social media also contribute to the problem by showing what is popular. People share wrong posts, making them even more popular

The future of fake These faces were created by artificial intelligence ‘Deep voice’ computer programs allow people’s voices to be convincingly faked ‘Deep fake’ videos, which show people saying things they didn’t say, are hard to produce, but will get better/easier It will only become more difficult to know what is true online

What can we do? Think critically about what we see online Assess our emotions and stop to check before sharing information Learn the tools to fact-check information Develop the habits to verify sources and claims Establish a trusted list of information and news sources