For Students

Fake news consists of “news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false, and could mislead readers” (Allcott and Gentzkow, 2017, p. 212).  They are created and circulated for two main reasons. The first and most common is financial: news articles that go viral on social media can bring considerable earnings. The second reason is ideological: one might want to circulate their beliefs by creating false news.

Fake news has always existed, but has become more widespread due to social media use, where there is no fact-checking or editorial judgment. Because of that, it is important to have tools to evaluate news articles encountered on social media.

Use the following websites to fact check the news: