This is how you can tell whether it is fake news or real business – with Africa Check

Refilwe Moloto interviews Naledi Mashishi, a researcher at Africa Check.

• Lots of fake videos and voice memos are making the rounds right now

• Africa Check checks the authenticity of videos in an interesting way

• Individuals should verify the authenticity of any videos or documents before sharing them (by checking government Twitter accounts, news organizations, calling numbers provided, or sending them to Africa Check).

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CONNECTED: Threats to 7 shopping malls in Cape Town are fake news – Prime Minister Alan Winde

South Africa is in a crisis that is fueled by fake news posts.

A social media post is making the rounds claiming the army gave citizens the right to shoot to kill when they encounter looters – it even comes with a fake voice memo.

Years old but presented like new videos of violence and looting fuel the blazing fire.

Information comes to us all the time – how do we separate fact from fiction?

Refilwe Moloto interviewed Naledi Mashishi, a researcher at Africa Check (scroll up to listen).

Africa Check is a non-profit fact-checking organization that aims to promote the accuracy of public debate and the media.

We’ll take screenshots of different still images in the video that look distinctive, then do a reverse image search …

Naledi Mashishi, Researcher – Africa Check

We can also look at “context queues” … Which side of the road are cars driving on? Are there flags? … What do the license plates look like? …

Naledi Mashishi, Researcher – Africa Check

Check the Twitter handles of the actual government spokespersons … Have any news organizations reported on this? … Are there any spelling or grammatical errors? … We call the ministries to check documents …

Naledi Mashishi, Researcher – Africa Check

You can also send it to Africa Check.

Naledi Mashishi, Researcher – Africa Check

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