Fact Checking, Verification & Fake News

Fake news is information posing as news, which has not been verified and is not true. It could be clickbait, rumours, hoaxes, propaganda, or satire. Today fake news is overwhelmingly web-driven, but fake news is nothing new. 

Check out this explainer on Fake News and the Spread of Disinformation from Journalist's Resource, from the Harvard Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Public Policy.

Timeline of Key moments in the latest fake news debate from Claire Wardle at FirstDraftNews. FirstDraftNews works with it's media partners to improve online news verification, reporting and sharing.

2016's top fake news stories were collected by C|net from the fact-checking sites Snopes, Factcheck,org and Politifact. 

Who's reading fake news? According to the Jumpshot Tech Blog:

• Facebook referrals accounted for 50 percent of total traffic to fake news sites and 20 percent of total traffic to reputable news sites.
• The oldest age group analyzed, 65 and over, was the most likely to click on fake and hyperpartisan news.
• Millennials are 16 percent less likely to click on fake news from Facebook compared to the rest of the population.

Data on Facebook’s fake news problem, The Jumpshot Tech Blog, Nov. 29, 2016