How to fact-check when news is breaking

How can you tell what's real and what's not when you're online and trying to learn the latest about wars, natural disasters, and other news events? 

After a major incident, social media platforms are often flooded with old and unrelated images and videos, which can mislead people. Because of a lack of available information, we may tend to trust these visuals with whichever narratives are shared. 

Here's how to verify the information you see online. 

Verifying information

• Google is a fact-checker’s best friend. It sounds like a cliche, but it’s true. Run a Google search to see who is talking about the incident in question. If there is no credible source or report on it then probably it’s not true. It might be wise to wait. 
• Do check who the information is being attributed to. Is it just a random social media post? Is it attributed to an agency or authority? And has the agency/authority made an official statement? On several occasions, information is often misattributed. So, always check the primary source of information. 
• Occasionally, satire and memes are used as a weapon to share misinformation. So, it’s always a good idea to check if something is being shared as a joke or real news. 

Verifying images and videos

Old, unrelated visuals – images and videos – often get shared in times of crisis. To verify these visuals, one can simply conduct a reverse image search using Google Lens or use the InVid plugin on Google Chrome. The same can be used to verify videos. 

But if a reverse image search doesn't yield any results, do look at the following information: 

• Where was it first shared? 
• Who shared it? 
• Was any attribution or source of the image/video mentioned? 

If you can only find the images/videos on an obscure website or post, then that's a good enough reason not to trust it blindly. 

Rely on trusted sources and authorities

In a situation like a war, flood, an earthquake, or a political crisis, there ought to be a gap between the news breaking and the details of the event. The presence of bots and impostor accounts on social media has exacerbated the spread of false information by taking advantage of the time taken to share authoritative and official communication. So, follow authoritative and trusted information sources: 

• What are on-ground reporters saying? 
• What is the government saying? 
• Any NGO and civil society organizations following the developments? 

Be wary of accounts that exhibit bot-like behavior or have a history of sharing unverified information. 

Making these small habits a part of our routine can play a big role in mitigating the impact of mis/disinformation in such situations. Remember, it's the information vacuum that lets misinformation breed. So, try to fill the vacuum with credible and verified information, and don't share anything without verifying. 

(Update: This article was amended on October 2, 2024, from an initial piece that addressed misinformation in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, to cover misinformation across different subject matter)