Fact VS Fiction Self-Assessment

What type of fake news is this? (Hint - Select two of the five options)

• Propaganda

• Disinformation

• Conspiracy Theory

• Clickbait

• Satire

Answer explanation

This story uses a clickbait title and a video of another event (natural crab migration) to spread disinformation about a real one: Hurricane Irma. YouTube has surpassed Facebook in number of American users (Majority, 2018).

What type of fake news is this? (Select two)

• Propaganda

• Disinformation

• Conspiracy Theory

• Clickbait

• Satire

Answer explanation

This story uses a clickbait title and misleading numbers to spread propaganda related to a proposed minimum wage increase. Snapchat presents news stories in ways that are often difficult to discern from advertisements.

What type of fake news is this? (Select two)

• Propaganda

• Disinformation

• Conspiracy Theory

• Clickbait

• Satire

Answer explanation

This story uses a clickbait title to spread propaganda related to a real law proposing increased conservation efforts in California. Twitter is a growing news source among all age groups (Shearer and Gottfried, 2017).

What type of fake news is this? (Select two)

• Propaganda

• Disinformation

• Conspiracy Theory

• Clickbait

• Satire

Answer explanation

This story uses a clickbait title to stoke conspiracy theories related to government overreach. During the last U.S. presidential election, fake news stories like this were shared more often on Facebook than legitimate news stories (Silverman, 2016).

What type of fake news is this? (Select two)

• Propaganda

• Disinformation

• Conspiracy Theory

• Clickbait

• Satire

Answer explanation

This fake story relies on a clickbait title and disinformation in the form of a misleading image along with reference to “hundreds of missing people” in the lead to the story in order to get people to click on it. Facebook has recently implemented an “about this article” feature that allows users to learn more about the sources of information before clicking (Lewsing, 2018).

What type of fake news is this? (Select one)

• Propaganda

• Disinformation

• Conspiracy Theory

• Clickbait

• Satire

Answer explanation

This fake news story is an example of satire, or actual fake news. Although satirical news sites identify themselves as such, they are often shared like legitimate news stories, particularly when the fake headlines parallel existing conspiracy theories (Woolf, 2016).

What type of fake news is this? (Select one)

• Propaganda

• Disinformation

• Conspiracy Theory

• Clickbait

• Satire

Answer explanation

This fake news story uses disinformation in the form of misleading statistics to make readers think scooters are unsafe. Even if the numbers in the story are true, they are presented outside of the context of other years or even the total number of scooter owners. Apple News and similar apps allow users to create news notifications that are tailored to them based on their browsing habits along with user selections.