How to spot fake news: a checklist

False stories travel fastest when they make us angry, afraid or delighted. The best defence is a few seconds of doubt before you share. These ten habits catch most of what is fake.

1. Notice how it makes you feel. A message designed to make you furious, frightened or triumphant is a reason to slow down, not to forward it.
2. Find out who is saying it. Is there a named source — a person, a newspaper, a government department? Can you find the original report? “Sources say” on a forwarded image is not a source.
3. Look at the address. Fake sites copy the look and the name of real ones, with a letter changed or an extra word in the web address. Type the address of a news site yourself rather than trusting a link.
4. Check whether anyone else has it. A big, real story is reported by several independent news organisations within hours. Our live news page marks a story “Verified” only when at least two of them report it — a strong signal, though still not proof.
5. Check the date. Old stories and old videos are often shared again as if they were new.
6. Search the picture. A reverse image search (Google Lens, Bing Visual Search or TinEye) shows where else a photo has appeared — often years earlier, somewhere else. For a video, search for a still frame from it.
7. Be wary of screenshots and quotes. A screenshot of a post or a headline is easy to fake. Look for the post on the account itself.
8. Look twice at “AI” images, video and voices. Telltale signs include odd hands, garbled writing, lighting that does not match and lips out of step with words — but the tools are improving fast. If a call or voice note asks for money urgently, hang up and call the person back on a number you already know.
9. Check the numbers. Statistics in a viral post can usually be checked against the official source — the census, the RBI, a ministry’s data.
10. Ask the fact-checkers. Google’s Fact Check Explorer searches the work of fact-checking organisations around the world. PIB Fact Check examines claims about the central government.

On WhatsApp

A message marked “Forwarded many times”, with a double arrow, has passed through a chain of at least five chats: it is not from the person who sent it to you. Ask them where it came from.

If you have shared something false

Say so, in the same place you shared it. Most people respect a correction. If a fake message is part of a fraud — someone asking for money, bank details or a one-time password — report it on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, or call the helpline 1930 for financial fraud.

We make mistakes too. When we do, we correct them openly; see our corrections page.