We all think we’re pretty smart enough not to believe that weird article your grandma shared on Facebook.
Ok, Grandma
Source: Imgur
Thing is, fake news isn’t always that easy to spot. Sign in to any social media and the endless scrolling overwhelms you with huge amounts of information. On top of that, fake news spread quickly online, and before you can even fact check one article someone’s already got their pitchforks ready.
So, beyond obviously fake and manipulated photos/videos, how are you being conned online? This series will look at the ways were being deceived online by fake news when we least suspect it.
The first part of this series looks at how fake news deceive even the most media literate of us- when something real and true is presented as a lie.
When the Truth becomes a Lie
With millions of photos and videos being shared everyday, the Internet provides a rich database of content. Content that can easily be misinterpreted or decontextualised. According to a research by the Visual Social Media Lab, 30 percent of problematic photos are real, but out-of-context, photos.
During September 2017, a Facebook post claimed that the following video was Hurricane Irma tearing through Antigua and Barbuda.
This video wasn’t even shot in the Carribean. It was actually from April 2016, during a tornado in Dolores, Uruguay.
A Half-Truth
A half-truth is defined as a statement that contains elements of the truth, but is deceptive in nature.
In January 2018, Donald Trump, tweeted that Black Unemployment was at its lowest due to his policies.
He isn’t technically wrong. Black unemployment was at record low, but the rate has been in decline since 2010.
Source: politifact
This is precisely what is problematic, and potentially terrifying, about fake news. We often see truth and facts as the means to combat fake news. But what happens when truth can be manipulated and presented as a lie? Who do we trust then?
Next in the series- Art of Conning: Manipulation
-Maria
FlakeOnFake 
The best way to lie is to always add a little bit of truth in it
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