(For their first video for the Teen Fact-Checking Network India, Season 2, Srija Banerjee and Neil Gaur decided to talk about how to decide if a fact-check is legit.)
How can you tell if a fact-check is legit? Take this example by BOOM.
BOOM concluded that this viral image does not show a COVID doctor in India losing her life to the virus.
It is in fact a medical student from Walter Sisulu University in South Africa…VERY MUCH ALIVE and whose photo was misused.
How Do You Know The Fact-Check is Legit?
First, a fact-check by BOOM will always tell you HOW they did the fact-check.
HOW: BOOM analysed the viral photos and noticed the logo 'WSU' on a selfie posted by the fake account of Dr Aisha.
The fake account’s location was mentioned as South Africa.
So, BOOM searched for WSU + South Africa and found that the logo is of Walter Sisulu University.
Second, see if the fact-check includes cross-verification with other sources.
In one of the photos shared by the fake account, a hospital pillow can be seen. You can see the logo of a Life Health Care hospital which has multiple branches in South Africa.
Next, Tanya Bennets of Life Health Care confirmed to BOOM over an email that the photo was from their hospital but said that the narrative associated with it is "fake news".
Third, when needed, BOOM always looks for a primary source to confirm the information.
BOOM finally traced the woman in the viral image. She said, “It was quite disturbing to know that someone would spread horrible and sick rumours about me. Someone has taken the photos from my personal social media accounts and the same for my family's accounts. This is an attempt to hurt me and settle personal scores.”
So remember when you feel suspicious of a fact-check, check for these three:
- If they published how they did it
- If there was cross-verification
- And three, if there was a primary source.