How to spot fake news? These two words have trended in the last decade as a way of describing news and information that is false. It is not as simple as that, though. Other words like misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, satire, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories also describe something very similar and have been around for much longer. They do not, however, convey that snappy dismissive air conjured by the words “fake news.” To understand this trend, it is important to realize that there is no one description of what it is. In reality, fake news is three separate things:
Stories that are not true (making people believe something entirely false); Stories that are partially true (a deliberate attempt to convince a reader of a viewpoint using skewed information or opinion); A tactic used to discredit other people’s views (to make another person’s opinion or even facts appear to someone else to be false, even when there is no sign that this is the case).