AlphaPlus Community Questions - What is Disinformation?

The arrival of the web and the omnipresence of smartphones now enable the wide and rapid distribution of false information. [...] The reasons we do this are that we: • Trust our loved ones • We want to please them • Want to belong to a group Another reason why we share fake news is a tendency towards online distraction. [...] • Often written in the first person – I saw, I heard… How to check a source of information? Here are some details to check: • Check the link address (URL): Disinformation sites often try to imitate the addresses of official media sites. [...] • Take a look at the publication date: Is this recycled old news? • Is the author identified? Who is the author and what other writing have they done? • What is the intention of the article: Is the information based on facts? Does the article present more opinions than facts? Are the opinions backed up with facts? What activities can I do with learners? • Choose a local newspaper and compare an op. [...] • Practice distinguishing fact from opinion with the Informable App from the News Literacy Project - informable.newslit.org • Do an activity on the identification and consequences of fake news (for example: Beyond the facts – see the interactive tool).