I finally found the trick to spot fake 'shocking' news headlines instantly

I was getting so fed up with those clickbait articles claiming some politician said something crazy. My buddy shared one last week about a mayor in Austin proposing a new tax on rain water. I almost believed it until I checked the source - it was a satirical site from 2018. Now I look up the original quote on C-SPAN or the official transcript before getting mad. Has anyone else found a fast way to fact check these without spending an hour digging?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.olivia6d ago

Check the URL before you even read the headline.

the_jake6d ago

Plain domain names tell you everything. Something ending in ".com.co" or with a misspelled brand name like "cnn-trending.com" is almost always garbage. If it's from a site like "The Onion" or "World News Daily Report" you can tell right away from the URL structure alone. A quick glance at the URL takes two seconds and saves you from being that person who shares obviously fake news.

fiona_carr266d ago

So agreed with @davis.olivia on this. I've caught people sharing stuff from satirical sites like "World News Daily Report" thinking it's real. The URL tells you everything you need to know before you even waste time reading.