Skip to Main Content

Fact-checking and Fighting Misinformation

Definitions

Bias - "to give a settled and often prejudiced outlook to" - Merriam-Webster.

Clickbait - "something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest" - Merriam-Webster.

Deepfake - Any of various media, esp. a video, that has been digitally manipulated to replace one person's likeness convincingly with that of another, often used maliciously to show someone doing something that he or she did not do.” - Oxford English Dictionary

Disinformation - "false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth" - Merriam-Webster.

Fake news - "false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke" - Cambridge Dictionary.

Hoax news - "a humorous or malicious deception meant to purposely present information incorrectly."

Information - "(1) knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction (2) intelligence, news (3) facts, data" - Merriam-Webster

Misinformation - "incorrect or misleading information" - Merriam-Webster.

Propaganda - "the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person" or "ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause" - Merriam-Webster.

Satire - "a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn" - Merriam-Webster. The Onion is a popular satirical website.