{"id":99750,"date":"2018-04-11T19:04:20","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T19:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=99750"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:33:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:33:29","slug":"10-tricks-for-spotting-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/10-tricks-for-spotting-fake-news\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tricks for spotting \u201cfake news\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIs this article real or fake?\u201d At some point, you\u2019ve asked yourself this question while reading online. That\u2019s normal. Sites with fake news haven\u2019t stopped growing worldwide, so it’s hard not to doubt, well, everything. That\u2019s why Softonic is bringing you <\/span>ten tricks to spot \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

10 Tricks for spotting \u201cfake news\u201d<\/h2>\n

1. The URL<\/b><\/h3>\n

Hands down, this is the most basic tip: <\/span>look carefully at the address hosting the news.<\/b> If it\u2019s a fake website, it will likely imitate the original in almost every way. \u201cAlmost\u201d is the key here: an \u201ci\u201d instead of an \u201cl,\u201d for example and the trick is complete. Check each and every detail of the site carefully. <\/span><\/p>\n

2. Headlines<\/b><\/h3>\n

Generally speaking, fake websites usually have shocking news with <\/span>large headlines<\/b>, capital letters for every word, exclamation points, and similar stylistic elements. <\/span><\/p>\n

3. The source<\/b><\/h3>\n

When reading an article, <\/span>look carefully where it comes from.<\/b> Try to access the original link to take a look. Maybe it\u2019s not what it seems. <\/span><\/p>\n

4. Formatting<\/b><\/h3>\n

Though even good newspapers can have errors, websites with fake news don\u2019t usually take care to avoid spelling mistakes. These sites stand out for this type of <\/span>clumsy writing<\/b>, full of inconsistencies and with very bad grammar. It\u2019s hard to miss.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. The date<\/b><\/h3>\n

If you think you\u2019ve got a fake article, look carefully at <\/span>the publication date<\/b>. Thanks to Google, you can find out if the information is from the past, or if somebody spread false information. It\u2019s definitely more common than you think. <\/span><\/p>\n

6. Photos<\/b><\/h3>\n

If the date is a huge giveaway, photos are, too. Funnily enough, it\u2019s typical for photos accompanying news articles to be old. Google can help you solve this mystery as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

7. The author<\/b><\/h3>\n

Look for the <\/span>author <\/b>of that article on major social networks, especially Twitter. The blue bird is great for verifying profiles. An article coming from somebody with a verified blue tick isn\u2019t the same as somebody with an egg as a profile image who has never tweeted.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Jokes<\/b><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s one thing if the news is fake\u2026 and another if it\u2019s a joke. There are a dozen humor and satirical sites that play with this double edge. Logically, you can usually figure this out with a few clicks, though many people end up spreading it as news. Just ask The Onion\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Other media sites<\/b><\/h3>\n

Our advice is to verify if other sites <\/span>have also published that same news piece.<\/b> Likewise, check out foreign websites, which can be another good way to find out if it\u2019s fake news or not. <\/span><\/p>\n

10. Don\u2019t share it<\/b><\/h3>\n

Our final tip is the wisest of all: <\/span>don\u2019t share it<\/b>. If you think the news you\u2019re reading could be fake, why share it? You could be part of the problem. Help out the rest of us and don\u2019t share.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIs this article real or fake?\u201d At some point, you\u2019ve asked yourself this question while reading online. That\u2019s normal. Sites with fake news haven\u2019t stopped growing worldwide, so it’s hard not to doubt, well, everything. That\u2019s why Softonic is bringing you ten tricks to spot \u201cfake news.\u201d 10 Tricks for spotting \u201cfake news\u201d 1. The … Continue reading “10 Tricks for spotting \u201cfake news\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9091,"featured_media":99880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[2441],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-99750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328091,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99750\/revisions\/328091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99750"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=99750"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=99750"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=99750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}