How to Identify Fake News on WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a great way to stay in touch with your family and friends, but it also has its share of hoaxes and fake news. This can make it difficult for you to decide if a link you receive on WhatsApp should trust or not. The WhatsApp team is always working on releasing new features to help people identify and flag false information circulating on the platform, but there are also a few things you can check for on your own. If you are wondering how to identify fake news on WhatsApp then here is a complete guide for you.

Tips To Identify The Fake WhatsApp News

With some careful reading, though, you can ensure that the news you receive is accurate. To identify fake news on WhatsApp, look for the following:

Basic Attention

The first thing you should always consider when reading a message on WhatsApp is whether or not it’s real. Suppose something looks too great to be accurate, mostly those fake. It’s rare for someone to offer you something for free without reason and even more unlikely for them to ask you to share their message with everyone in your phone contacts first.

Check the source of information

If it’s from a news site, what does that site look like? Are there any other articles on the page? Do they cover more than one topic? Do they cover issues related to the story you’re looking at? These things you can inspect to know if it is fake or not. If it’s from a friend, evaluate how trustworthy they usually are. If you get a message from someone you know that seems suspicious or out of character, don’t forward it to anyone else until you’ve verified that they are the source.

Look at the wording

Fake WhatsApp messages with most capital letters are often unverified rumors or hoaxes. Messages that use words like “Urgent!” or “Breaking!” should be treated with skepticism until they can be verified by a credible news source or government body.

See if an image has been used in another context

If you receive an image as a message, you can use Google’s reverse image search to see whether an image is used in another context than what is being described in the message. Go to images.google.com, click on the camera icon and upload the photo from your phone or enter its URL if it’s online. You can then see if this image has been used before and what kind of work and purpose.

Use a Tipline

If you are still not sure that news is fake or not, you can use the following Tiplines

AFP +91 95999 73984
Boom +91 77009-06111 / +91 77009-06588
Vishvas News +91 92052 70923 / +91 95992 99372
Fact Crescendo +91 90490 53770
News checker +91 99994 99044
Factly +91 92470 52470
News mobile +91 11 7127 9799
Quint Webqoof +91 96436 51818
India Today +91 7370-007000
The Healthy Indian Project +91 85078 85079

If you’re a WhatsApp user and want to verify the authenticity of any shared news, photo, or video, you can connect with fact-checking tiplines on the instant messaging platform. Save the number of any of the listed fact-checking tiplines in your contacts. Send a “Hi” message to start. And then send your quires. It is important to note that since these services are essentially chatbots, they take some time to verify the information you feed.

Also Check This, How to Send WhatsApp Messages Without Typing on Android, iOS