Fake News: Fake news
Artificial intelligence and fake news
Artificial intelligence changing politics with fake images and videos (2:42 minutes) NBC News clip
- AI-generated disinformation poses threat of misleading voters in 2024 electionPBS News article, May 2023
- Learning to lie: AI tools adept at creating disinformationAssociated Press, January 2023
- Why you shouldn’t trust AI search enginesM.I.T. Technology Review, May 2023
- A.I. Can Now Create Lifelike Videos. Can You Tell What’s Real?New York Times, Sept. 2024. (Requires a New York Times account, available for free to PCC students.)
Where does fake news come from?
- Musk’s X is the biggest purveyor of disinformation, EU official saysAssociated Press, Sept. 2023
- From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiecefrom New York Times, Jan. 18, 2017
- USC study reveals the key reason why fake news spreads on social mediaFrom University of Southern California, Jan. 2023
- How is Fake News Spread? Bots, People like You, Trolls, and MicrotargetingFrom the Center for Information Technology and Society at U.C. Santa Barbara
- Fake News: Lies spread faster on social media than truth doesfrom NBC, March 2018
- How does "Fake News" Become News?Video from Learning for Justice, 6:39 minutes.
Who starts fake Covid news?
Fake News Generator: Who starts viral misinformation? - BBC News (2:44 minutes) Conspiracy theories and speculation about coronavirus have flooded social media. But who starts these rumors? And who spreads them?
Test yourself! Are these stories credible?
Go deeper into misinformation
- Understanding Information DisorderFrom First Draft, 2020.
- The Psychology of MisinformationFrom First Draft, 2020.
- Countering Truth DecayA RAND Corporation Initiative to Restore the Role of Facts and Analysis in Public Life.
- It’s not just a social media problem – how search engines spread misinformationFrom The Conversation, 2021.
- Is What You See Really What You Get? Explore visual misinformationLearn about "cheap fakes" and "deep fakes." Part of the Data Detox Kit.
- News Literacy ProjectThe News Literacy Project offers resources including an e-learning platform, an app, a new podcast, shareable tips, tools and quizzes. Be sure to checkout the Rumor Guard and'Combating COVID-19 vaccine misinformation'.
Protect yourself from misinformation and other forms of fake news with these steps:
Multiple studies have shown that false news spreads faster than true news on social media. (Example). Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are being used to create powerful disinformation campaigns. Use these tips to protect yourself from lies and hoaxes.
1. Slow down and take a second look! Watch for these red flags
- no listing of the source of the picture or information
- strange web address (example abcnews.com.co)
- purposeful evoking of outrage or other strong emotions
- logic-defying pictures or text
6. Use your own critical thinking skills. Is the story emotionally manipulative? Does this story really make sense?
Fact checking resources
Tips for fact checking! Use the websites below to help you determine the reliability and bias of the information provided by a source. For example, look up the claims, author credentials and organization names mentioned in the source.
- SnopesThe definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.
- AP News - "Not Real News"Associated Press weekly round up of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week.
- AFP Fact CheckFrance-based international fact-checking service, monitoring content in languages and regions around the world.
- FactCheck.orgFactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
- Fact CheckerFrom the Washington Post, "the truth behind the rhetoric."
- First Draft NewsTracks and evaluates information that emerges online.
- Politifact Truth-o-MeterNonpartisan that evaluates the accuracy of claims made by US political officeholders, candidates, consultants, advisers, special interest groups, and pundits.
- PolitiFact en EspañolNonpartisan fact-checking in Spanish.
- Science FeedbackA not-for-profit organization verifying the credibility of influential claims and media coverage that claims to be scientific, starting with the topics of climate and health.
- Truth or FictionNon-partisan “mythbusting” website about urban legends, Internet rumors, “erumors”, e-mail forwards, and other questionable pictures or stories.
Source evaluation resources
- WikipediaYes, Wikipedia! This is the first stop for professional fact checkers. Follow the links for the original sources.
- Media Bias Fact CheckResource for determining media bias through research and consumer opinions. Media Bias/Fact Check also provides occasional fact checks, original articles on media bias and breaking/important news stories.
- AllSides.comLooks at the treatment of the same current news stories and issues from media sources considered conservative, centrist, and liberal. Helps readers identify bias and avoid polarization.
7 Types of Mis- and Disinformation
From Information Disorder, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Donovan's 5 Key Principles of Misinformation
Tips for detecting fake news
From the International Federation of Library Associations. Click image or here to download pdf.
- Ten Questions for Fake News Detectionfrom The News Literacy Project
- Four Moves and a HabitUse the Four Moves to help discern truth when using the web. From "Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers"
Sort Fact from Fiction Online with Lateral Reading
Read the web like a fact checker with lateral reading. From Stanford History Education Group (3:47 minutes)
Recommended books about misinformation
- Verified: how to think straight, get duped less, and make better decisions about what to believe online byCall Number: 025.042 C38v 2023Publication Date: 2023
- What the Fact?Publication Date: 2022Young adult title. Tracing the spread of misinformation and disinformation through our fast-moving media landscape, a journalist, scientist, medical professional, and professor gives readers the skills to identify and counter poorly sourced clickbait and misleading headlines.
- Disinformation: the nature of facts and lies in the post-truth era byCall Number: EbookPublication Date: 2022
- Cheap Speech : how disinformation poisons our politics -- and how to cure it byPublication Date: 2022
Contact the editor of this guide
Contact librarian Roberta Richards
- rrichard@pcc.edu
- Southeast LIB 206
- 971-722-4962
Roberta's appointment calendar:
- Online Monday mornings
- In-person Wednesdays at the Southeast Campus Library
- Online Thursday 3:00 - 6:30 p.m.