Lesson 1


Fake News

Welcome to the first lesson of our Cyber Safety Dojo!
Click "START" to begin the lesson.

NEWS CAN BE FAKE?!

Fake news is everywhere on the internet. This news can include hoaxes, misinformation, and even propaganda. These websites' purpose are to mislead the reader; news like this can be made to change the reader's political and personal views. Websites like these can also lead the reader to give away personal information or even put a virus on your comupter. Especially at this time, fake news can be spread through social media websites such as twitter and facebook. Watch the video below for more information.

What You Can Do

There are ways you can tell if the article you are reading is fake. Here are some ways to identify fake news.

The Source

Identifying the source of the news you read can help you know if the article is fake or not. If you have not heard of the website you are using, then the news can most likely be false. However, a website can also be similar to a well-known news outlets. For example, a website can have the URL abcnews.com.co, but it can actually not be the real ABC News website.

Keep Reading

Fake news can often have signs of their legitimacy within the text of the article. This can include things such as having no evidence to support their claim, grammatical errors, spelling errors, and satirical comments. The false news can also have opinionated comments within the text.

What is the Date?

The date of the published text can also give clues to determine whether the news is fake or not. For example, if the website's sources of information were writen years ago, their sources could be irrelevant to the topic being discussed in the article. The date of the article could also be published several months and even years ago, making the article irrelevant as well.

Check the Author

You can also resarch the author of the article. By simply searching his name you can find his profession as well as the articles he published. If he is not qualified for stating the information in the article, the news is most likely false and untrue. If he really never published that article, the news is fake.

Test Your Knowledge

Take the following quiz to complete the lesson.

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