Identifying & Combating Misinformation w/ Fact Checking Tools is a presentation I prepared for US Embassy Youth Council 2024 members in Kathmandu, Nepal.

1. MISINFORMATION:
UNDERSTANDING,
IDENTIFYING &
COMBATING
Ujjwal Acharya

2. ABOUT ME
 Researcher at Center for Media Research
– Nepal (CMR-Nepal)
 Project Head, NepalFactCheck.org
 Author, सचेत बन ौँ: सुचना र प्रविविको सही
प्रयोग
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3. HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE SEEN
MISINFORMATION LAST WEEK?
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4. WHERE DID YOU SEE
MISINFORMATION?
51.4% 39.4%
23.9% 6.3 - 7%
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5. HOW CONCERNED ARE YOU
ABOUT MISINFORMATION?
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6. WHAT IS
MISINFORMATION?

7. MISINFORMATION
Misinformation is false information
or misleading information.
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8. MIS/DIS/MALINFORMATION
MISINFORMATION
Umbrella term; all false
or misleading
information whether
intended or not.
DISINFORMATION MALINFORMATION
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Deliberate
misinformation produced
or spread for some
benefits.
Disinformation intended
to inflict harm on
individuals or
community.

9. INFORMATION MANIPULATION
Information manipulation is a set of tactics involving
the collection and dissemination of information in
order to influence or disrupt democratic decision-
making.
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10. E
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11. E
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12. E
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13. IDENTIFYING
MISINFORMATI
ON
Image by macrovector on Freepik

14. • Identifying misinformation is not easy!
• People who create disinformation makes
every effort to make it believable and hard
to identify.
• However, if we have critical mindset and be
careful, there are enough clues to identify
misinformation.
SPOTTING MISINFORMATION

15. FIRST THOUGHT, ALWAYS:
THIS CAN BE A
MISINFORMATION!

16. TO BE INFORMATION, 10 THINGS
SHOULD BE CORRECT, COMPLETE
AND LOGICAL
1. Fact
2. Data
3. Incident
4. Chronology of Incident
5. Source
6. Person
7. Statement
8. Picture
9. Date and Time
10. Context

17. DISINFORMATION ARE
DESIGNED TO IGNITE ONE
OF OUR EMOTIONS
QUICKLY.

18. So after hearing or reading
something, you feel extremely:
• Happy, or
• Sad, or
• Excited, or
• Frustrated,
there is a potential disinformation!

19. • Is this the original account, article, or piece of content?
• Who shared this or created it?
• When was this created?
• What account/who is sharing this?
• Why was this shared?
• Who benefits from this?
QUESTIONS TO ASK

20. • Trust worthiness of creator / publisher
• Name of account/site
• Name / identity of creator / author
• Sources of presented facts and statements
• Previous posts / articles
IF PUBLISHED, THINGS TO WATCH
OUT

21. • Title and content
• Published time and date
• Fundamentals of news
• Language and grammar
• Length and space given
• Photo
IF AS NEWS, THINGS TO WATCH OUT
Image by redgreystock on Freepik

22. IF MANY PEOPLE ARE
POSTING EXACT SAME
THING, RED ALERT!
IF ONLY ONE MEDIA HAS
PUBLISHED IT, RED
ALERT!

23. WHAT CAN I DO
ABOUT
MISINFORMATION?
Vecteezy.com

24. THINGS INDIVIDUALS CAN DO
1. Be critical: Be aware that thing you are
reading/hearing/seeing can be misinformation.
2. Google to see if credible sources have anything to say
on the information.
3. Don't share until you have verified information as true.
4. Don't engage with suspicious content.

25. THINGS INDIVIDUALS CAN DO
5. Don't write or share misinformation - even for fun.
6. Report suspicious content to platform or fact-checkers.
7. If you wrote something based on misinformation,
correct it immediately with in transparent way.
8. Fact-check if you have time.

26. COUNTERING
DISINFORMATION

27. <COUNTERING DISINFO/>
• Local Media Development
• Media and Information Literacy
• Fact-Checking
• Counter Messaging
• Labeling Social Media Content
• Policy Intervention
• Research and Data to Understand Misinformation

28. FACT CHECKING: A
PRIMER

29. Fact-checking?
29
A specialized practice in which any
news or statement or 'information' is
tested for truthfulness based on
available:
- proof or
- data or
- scientifically accepted studies

30. Fact-checking
Principles
30
The result of fact-checking is based
on availability of facts.
If proof is unavailable, that doesn't
mean no proofs exist. It could be it
was not found while fact-checking.
A statement can not be classified as
true in the absence of proof.
Similarly, to classify a statement as
false, there should be a proof.

31. Finding
proofs
31
When looking for proofs, all or most of
the following steps are followed:
1. Internet search
2. Talks with experts
3. Information from concerned individual,
organization or group
4. Verification of contents
5. Finding proofs (audio, video or
documents; studies, research or data)
6. Finding authoritative source

32. Can all
information be
fact-checked?
32
Many information
Can't be fact-checked?
There is no need to
fact-check some.
Some information can
be fact-checked.

33. Can these be fact-checked?
1. During my rule, the GDP grew by
5 per cent.
2. Due to my government policy to
encourage private sector, the GDP
grew by 5 per cent.
3. If I was not ruling the nation, the
GDP wouldn't have grown by 5 per
cent.
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34. FACT CHECKING
TOOLS

35. FA
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36. A
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37. R
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38. E
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39. I
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40. THANK YOU
@UjjwalAcharya
ujjwal.acharya@journalism.acade
my
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