As technology evolves globally, fact-checkers and journalists are confronted with the rising challenge posed by tools which purveyors of disinformation use in creating fake videos, images, and audio that depict individuals saying or doing things they never said or did.
If you've been brushing up on the FRANCE 24 Observers' verification guide, then you now have the know-how to verify images with a reverse image search or check for edits with some forensic tools. You should also have the basic instincts needed to be wary when scrolling through social media. This guide will show you some more advanced verification techniques that can help you dig a bit deeper into the origins of a post or a page.
You just received a photo on WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter. The image makes you angry, sad or joyful, and the caption encourages you to share it as widely as possible. You're a little cautious, however, because the story seems too good to be true. You are right to be careful. Here are a few tips for verifying images and tracing a photo’s origin on your own.
Social media posts claim The Washington Post published an article suggesting Ukraine sent weapons to Hamas following the Palestinian Islamist movement's bloody October 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked a war in the region. This is false; the headline is fabricated and there is no evidence of such aid.
Social media posts claim photos show Oleksiy Reznikov partying on a yacht in the South of France days after leaving his post as defense minister of Ukraine. This is false; the image was taken near Istanbul, Turkey, in February 2020, years prior to the war with Russia.
An image circulating online purports to show Boris Johnson raising his arm in a Nazi salute alongside three Ukrainians. But the photo is altered; in the original, the former United Kingdom prime minister is resting both hands by his sides.
As anti-junta forces reportedly captured a strategic military base in southern Myanmar, a photo surfaced in Burmese posts that falsely claimed it showed a foreign woman helping rebels loot pagodas in the battlefield. The picture was actually taken in a Ukrainian town damaged by heavy Russian attacks.
Founded in 2014, StopFake.org's initial goal was "to verify and refute disinformation and propaganda about events in Ukraine being circulated in the media. Eventually the project grew into an information hub where we examine and analyze all aspects of Kremlin propaganda.
We not only look at how propaganda influences Ukraine, we also try to investigate how propaganda impacts on other countries and regions, from the European Union to countries which once made up the Soviet Union."
The fakenews.pl portal is a website dedicated to a subject of fake news.
You will find here a collection of the latest and archival fake news verifications, interesting publications and articles.
"Debunk.org, VsI, is an independent technology think tank and non-governmental organization that researches disinformation and runs educational media literacy campaigns. Debunk.org carries out disinformation analyses in the Baltic countries, Poland, Georgia and Montenegro, as well as in the United States and North Macedonia together with our partners."