While the COVID-19 pandemic troubles our healthcare workers, our journalists face the spread of another form of disease—the infodemic.

With more than 3.8 billion social media users worldwide today, the fight against disinformation on different social media platforms intensifies each passing day. As more users rely on these platforms to obtain knowledge on their day-to-day lives, peddling false information online becomes easier for those with the intention of shifting or manipulating public opinion. In a time where disinformation can be as powerful as a gun, correcting inaccuracies can save lives.

Rappler MovePH x Hi-Lites Webinar

With the goal of promoting fact-checking among Filipino netizens, Rappler MovePH held a Fact-Checking Webinar co-hosted by Hi-Lites last Friday, November 27. Among the speakers were Mrs. Chay Hofileña, Head of Investigative Desk at Rappler, Ms. Vernise Tantuco and Ms. Pauline Macaraeg, both writers and researchers at Rappler. At the event, over 215 participants listened as they shared their knowledge on fact-checking dubious claims. Mrs. Hofilena spoke about the significance of fact verification in the field of journalism. To lead the participants into the methodology of fact-checking, Ms. Tantuco instructed the participants on the process of spotting disinformation. To top it off, a spot check exercise was facilitated by Ms. Macaraeg to test the participants’ acquired grasp on the subject. The webinar enlightened its participants on the process of verifying facts and reducing occurrences of disinformation, especially those online. 

Disinformation is false or inaccurate information spread deliberately with the intention to deceive, as opposed to misinformation which refers to unintentionally inaccurate or false content. In the past few months, we’ve witnessed how easily false information can spread like a pandemic on social media. From erroneous claims of mere fruits as the sole cure for COVID to false quotes from supposedly revered officials, both misinformation and disinformation have plagued social media networks today.

As journalism is premised on the pursuit of truth, fact-checking is essential for journalists in order to maintain the reliability of their news sources and uphold the standards of accuracy, fairness, and balance. However, just like how frontliners cannot stop the pandemic on their own, journalists need the help of the people to free social media of misleading information.

Basics of Fact-Checking

Nowadays, fact-checking is like an information whack-a-mole—dismiss one misleading post, another one is sure to pop up. While it does seem almost impossible to combat, we can help put an end to the seemingly ceaseless cycle of disinformation. 

Similar to how we cope with the coronavirus pandemic, prevention is still better than cure when it comes to disinformation. Instead of putting priority in correcting every single inaccurate post on the web, we should educate people on how to verify the information they see online before holding it to be true. Media and information literacy also allows them to debunk certain claims on their own and foster the culture of fact-checking. Through this, the public can aid social media sites’ fact-checkers in their fight against disinformation.

Aside from this, social media platforms have improved their algorithms to prevent disinformation from further plaguing their sites. For instance, whenever a piece of content on their site is marked as misleading by a fact-checker, Facebook significantly reduces the post’s distribution, ensuring that fewer people see it.

In order to disseminate accurate information, people can verify the content they see online before circulating it on various platforms. The details and origins of the information reveal much about its authenticity. Details include the statements, names, figures or statistics, dates, locations, and superlatives. The corresponding media attached to it, such as photos, videos, or video thumbnails, may also clue into whether these may not be accurate to the information involved. The source may also be identified with the content’s URL and domain, or if it is found on social media sites, the account or page name.

Once the details have been identified, corroborating evidence may be gathered to counter check the validity of the information, often with the primary source of information. While finding one is enough, two or more sources are recommended in order to ascertain that the claim is truly accurate. Some methods to doing this include running media files through reverse image search or video verification sites like Google Images or InVid, and looking up locations in Google Street Map. There may also be archived web pages that can be accessed on Wayback Machine to search for outdated versions of deleted sites.

We are fighting two wars at the same time—one fought with swabs and needles, the other with vigilance and verification. As responsible citizens, it is up to us to aid those in the front lines of democracy in their mission to uphold the truth.

Sources:
https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/01/digital-2020-3-8-billion-people-use-social-media
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disinformation
https://www.facebook.com/business/help/2593586717571940?id=673052479947730
Rappler MovePH’s Fact-checking in the time of coronavirus webinar on Friday, November 27, 2020

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Nicolette Zoleta and Jaemie Talingdan