Passion Project by Brandon Ruiz ‘21 Media Literacy Types of Misinformation & Fact Checking Misinformation can take many sneaky forms. The internet allows all kinds of news to find its Digesting the News: way to our fingertips. But, it is also a double- Deceptive actors including bots can engage in edged sword. ANYONE can post information Being a responsible consumer deceptive behavior and spread deceptive con- on the internet. of information tent. Fact checking takes time and isn’t always Given the pandemic and the current A bot is a computer program that is coded to easy. Thankfully helpful resources dedicate political climate, the issue of engage in certain behaviors automatically. themselves to debunking false information. misinformation cannot be any more They are often found in social media sites like prominent. This project aims to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram often mas- Try consulting these sites the next time you combat the threat of misinformation querading as a real person. come across a viral news story: in an accessible manner with hopes of inspiring people to feel more confident Deceptive behavior can look like:  Factcheck.org about interacting with the information  Spreading lies e.g. about COVID-19  Snopes.com they see everyday.  Commenting under post to share fake life  Politifact.com experiences and anecdotes  Washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/  Liking and sharing certain posts to amplify specific content, making it harder to find Similarly a simple trick you can try: the truth, and create an illusion of  Google the claim followed by the word popularity. “fake?” in the search engine.

Deceptive content can look like: Presenting a video or photo inaccurately to mislead the viewer. Why should I care?

How easy is it to produce and Misinformation can be harmful and dangerous spread deceptive content? to you and the people around you. Table of Contents Very easy and quite common. Advancements in technology can now manipulate media in Unsupported theories about life-saving  Beware of Confirmation Bias & The ways that were unable to be done so before. vaccines or misleading videos of fake needles Illusory Truth Effect Computer programs like Adobe Photoshop can cause fear and panic in the public. can alter images and put people in places False claims about home treatments, like te-  Statistics 101 they’ve never been before. Other advanced quila killing the COVID-19 virus, can also give programs and algorithms can manipulate vid- us a false sense of confidence that can be  Media Literacy & Fact Checking eo and produce Deepfakes to make people detrimental to our community. appear to say things they never said.  Why should I care? Remember that being skeptical of the Can you tell information you are receiving is not a bad  How easy is it to produce deceptive which picture is thing! content? the real Queen Elizabeth? Questioning is at the heart of the scientific  Types of Misinformation method and was the main weapon of some of

 Tips for Talking to Someone you

Answer: Left Answer: the most famous philosophers to ever live! Know

For sources visit: https://tinyurl.com/y2pghq86 Beware of Confirmation Tips for Talking to Someone Bias and The Illusory you Know Statistics 101 Truth Effect Remember that the goal is to find true Confirmation bias: information and not necessarily “being Stats can be deceiving. Did you know that 38% of statistics are false? We have a tendency to seek out information right”. and interpret information in ways that fit our Approaching a conversation this way can be Really? No! The above statistic is completely made up. beliefs. We like being right. We don't like being helpful when interacting with someone who’s wrong. convinced of the misinformation they’ve read. It has no source no backup no evidence. Statistics have to come from somewhere! Misinformation might have a shred of truth Even with a source, though, statistics don’t No one is immune from the effects of confirmation bias. Does Bill Gates want to use the vaccine to im- tell the whole story In March 2004, The FBI issued a formal plant chips in the population? Probably not. There is no evidence to support this. Did the apology to Brandon Mayfield after multiple Gates foundation fund a separate study look- experts somehow managed to misidentify ing into storing vaccination and medical history Mayfield’s fingerprints in court. inside the body via ink? Yes. It is important to recognize where evidence Preventing confirmation bias: comes from in order to clear up Gather information from multiple credible misconceptions. sources with different perspectives. Hear what others have to say so you don’t get stuck only Destigmatize shame in being wrong. hearing beliefs or opinions that coincide with Making mistakes is perfectly normal and it is your own. That’s an easy way to reinforce nothing to be ashamed about. Consider shar- This graph shows money spent on science and suicide rates in beliefs and not consider alternate ideas. ing examples of times when you’ve been the US from 1999-2009. They seem to rise similarly over time. wrong and what you learned from it. Framing The illusory truth effect: these conversations as a “learning experi- Does this mean that US spending money on An effect where people are more likely to ence” can be helpful. scientific research causes suicides or that rising believe information, both true and false, if it is suicides are causing the US to allocate more repeated enough. Recognize the role emotions play in what money to science? Probably not. Just because we believe two events appear related does not mean they Why does it happen? Try not to let emotions get in the way of discov- cause one or the other. Psychologists believe it has to do with ery. While it might be scary to find out what the familiarity. It becomes easier to process actual ingredients are in the COVID-19 Graphs can be manipulated to obscure information that we have been exposed to vaccine, it is a necessary step to take in order multiple times. to be an informed citizen. “But I am smart. The way I think and process information prevents me from Avoid over-simplifying complex topics vs falling for the illusory truth effect.” During these difficult times, it is understandable Experts found that variation in cognitive ability to want easy answers to complex questions. If makes no difference in the effectiveness of the you are weary of a vaccine that seems rushed, illusory truth effect. ask yourself “why” that might be case? What does it all mean? The graph on the left (1998-2012) seems to Perhaps the most important thing to re- Just because a story is viral, does not suggest that global temperatures (the red line) member is to be kind with each other automatically mean it is true. Fake stories can are staying the same if not falling over time. During these trying times, there is no need to spread rapidly thanks to the internet and social The graph on the right (1980-2012) seems to attribute malice to what can be explained by a media. It is important to figure out the truth show the bigger picture about global lack of awareness so lets assume the best. before pressing “Share”. temperatures over time.