How to Identify Fake News on WhatsApp | There are general ways one can use to identify fake news on WhatsApp. Whatsapp has made Fact-Checking Tiplines available too for its users, which can be used to identify fake misleading news in video, picture or text formats. Read below to see the WhatsApp general and Ffact-Checking Tiplines made available.
How to Identify Fake News on WhatsApp
Many folks use WhatsApp to circulate fake news and misinformation, which might lead to fraud and or disastrous things to the ones involved. Although the instant messaging app has implemented a list of features to restrict fake news circulation, WhatsApp users get misleading messages containing unverified information on a regular basis. It, thus, becomes important to know how you can verify the information you get on WhatsApp.
As many as 10 fact-checking organizations in India have their tiplines available on WhatsApp to let users verify the information they receive. These are tiplines verified by International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and can be used for verifying potentially misleading content including photos, videos, and voice recordings. Support of English and about eleven(11) Indian languages, which are;
- Bengali
- Hindi
- Marathi
- Punjabi, among others.
List of Fact-checking Tiplines on WhatsApp in India
Below is a list of WhatsApp Fact-checking Tiplines you can use at your disposal to verify/confirm a certain news on WhatsApp;
- AFP: +91 95999 73984
- Boom: +91 77009-06111 / +91 77009-06588
- Fact Crescendo: +91 90490 53770
- Factly: +91 92470 52470
- India Today: +91 7370-007000
- Newschecker: +91 99994 99044
- Newsmobile: +91 11 7127 9799
- Quint WebQoof: +91 96436 51818
- The Healthy Indian Project: +91 85078 85079
- Vishvas News: +91 92052 70923 / +91 95992 99372
Adding to the above tiplines, IFCN has its designed WhatsApp chatbot that helps users verify their information. This chatbot serves to connect users to independent fact-checkers in more than 70 countries around the world.
How to Use Fact-Checking Tiplines on WhatsApp
WhatsApp users in their contacts must save this fact-checking tiplines or send them a message through their links to get their information validated. Most of the listed fact-checking tiplines also give access to their latest fact-checked content when reaching them out on the messaging app
Note: Since the tiplines are essentially chatbots, they take some time to verify the information you feed.
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What do different Fact-Checking Tiplines in India offer on WhatsApp?
The main aim of the fact-checking tiplines on WhatsApp is to help users verify potentially fraudulent information they have received in the form of photos and videos as well as voice and text messages.
Below are the details on how Fact-Checking Tiplineswork and can help verify information on the messaging app.
AFP: The AFP Fact Check tipline is intended to fact-check text messages, videos, and photographs. It supports both English and Hindi languages and can be used to subscribe to AFP’s newsletter and read Ukraine conflict-specific fact checks.
Boom: Boom Fact Check tipline supports English and Hindi languages. It also works with Bengali. Users have been provided with the options to verify the photos, videos, audio, and the text they have. It also gives access to subscribe to the Boom Newsletter and read the latest fact-checking stories from Boomlive.
Fact Crescendo: Fact Crescendo supports nine languages in total, including Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Odia, and Tamil. It also lets users share their information in the form of text, photo, and video. In addition to verifying information from users, the tipline offers access to its fact-checking content and the latest updates pertaining to the COVID-19 spread.
Factly: Factly Fact Check gives users access to submit their request for a fact-check about an article, video, and other content. Users can also signup to Factly’s newsletter for a daily dose of fact_checking content or get the latest fact-checks from the web page. still, it doesn’t support local languages and can only work in English.
India Today: India Today Group Fact Check lets users submit their information as a message, photo, or video, similar to Factly. It also gives latest updates to the Russia-Ukraine war, UP Elections, and lets users subscribe to the India Today Fact-
Check Newsletter
The India Today tipline also supports Hindi in addition to English.
- Newschecker
- Newsmobile
- Quint’s WebQoof
- The Healthy Indian Project
- Vishvas News
All the above listed tiplines available on WhatsApp in India was tested to check its activeness to its users on identifying fake news and verifying information.
Tweets carrying old videos, image, and images containing false text was used and all the content was related to recent events, but had been proven to be false/fraudulent/misleading by verifiable sources. The tiplines from Factly, India Today, Quint WebQoof, and Newsmobile were able to respond to the imagery shared, while others didn’t respond despite waiting for a couple of hours.
Factly and Quint WebQoof were also able to verify the tweet links shared were false.
Other General Ways to Iidentify Fake News On WhatsApp
There are other general ways one can use to identify or check and confirm a news on WhatsApp, if its fake or genuine. Below are some of the general ways one can do that.
Look for signs that the news might be fake
The first rule in identifying fake news or misinformation is to be careful with forwarded messages. Specific indicators are tagged, and you need to identify them.
Understand when a message is forwarded
A fundamental rule for “Forwarded” messages, always remember, a forwarded message is not created by the person who sent it. What do messages with the “Forwarded” label mean?
Check forwarded photos and media carefully
A lot of times, we receive photos, audio recordings, and videos that can be edited to mislead you. Look at trusted news sources to see if the story is being reported elsewhere.
Hope this article will be of great help to the social media users, as it will give a clear identification to fake misleading/fraudulent news.
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