These days it’s so easy to get information, thanks to internet and social media! But with the growth of those two, fake news aka hoax proliferated. The most we have seen hoax from social media, such as Facebook. So how can you ensure you're not being bamboozled? Facebook join with Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika (Kemenkominfo), and Bawaslu have 10 tips to get you started.
1. Don’t Easily Trust the Headline
Fake news usually have interesting headline and mostly it written use capital letters and ended with exclamation mark (!). If it sounds weird, too much and untrustworthy, then it may be a hoax.
2. Check the URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
Many fake news sites will try to imitate a reputable, well-known website by incorporating it into its own URL. You can compare those untrustworthy sites with the real ones.
3. Check the Source
You need to find a reputable source that has done its own reporting on the news to ensure its truth and accuracy. The source normally written under the news. If the news comes from unknown organization, read “About” on the site to find out about their background site. If it’s fishy for you, then it can be a hoax site.
4. Check the Writing Format
Many hoax sites have misspelling or put the wrong punctuation mark on their news. Read the news carefully! Is it right or not? Despite it feels unimportant to you, it’s quite helpful to identify hoax.
5. Investigate Attached Picture
Hoax generally consists of manipulated pictures or videos. Sometimes the picture is real, but the context is way different. You can check out the photo or video first on search engine site. Trusted news should be enclose the source of listed photos or videos.
6. Check the Date
Date is one of the most important things on a news. Check when the news published, then match it with the date related to the issue. But you have to remember, the news date can be changed to deceiving readers.
7. Check the News Evidence
A credible news should including evidences or quotes from the expert, source, or witness. If one of those is not clear, then you should doubt on their validity.
8. Check Other News
If there is no other site reporting the same news, you can indicate the news as a hoax. But if the news reported by trusted source, then it could be a valid news.
9. Find Out Its Seriousness
Sometimes fake news made not for misleading the readers, but as a humor only. Check if the site get used to dibuat write parody news. Also check its writing note, is it serious, joke or sarcasm?
10. Critical
The most important thing is think critically and skepticallt on giving respond to any kind of news and only share the news if it’s trustworthy.