This is how you can tell whether it is fake news or real business – with Africa Check
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Refilwe Moloto interviews Naledi Mashishi, a researcher at Africa Check.
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Lots of fake videos and voice memos are making the rounds right now
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Africa Check checks the authenticity of videos in an interesting way
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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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