18 Clever Ways to Spot Fake News

  • Headlines

  • Headlines in ALL CAPS

  • Headlines With Multiple Exclamation Marks!!!!!

  • Headlines that sound unbelievable, usually are.

  • Source of Story

  • Try to spot phony looking URLs

  • Determine if you trust the source of the story.

  • Look at the source About page

  • Bad Formatting

  • The source website has unusual formatting

  • Look for misspellings

  • Fake news may have suspicious dates and timelines

  • Check if the source is know for parody stories

  • Stories with no or limited source may be fake news

  • Check sources and citations from the author of the story.

  • Double check the website to see if it's a clever copy of a reputable source

  • Images and Photos

  • Look for manipulated images or videos

  • Look for authentic photos taken out of context

  • Search the web for photos or images to verify where they came from

  • Research and Thinking

  • Search the web for similar stories from multiple respected sources

  • Think critically about the story before sharing because could be intentionally false

This checklist was created by officialcheckli

copy saved

copies saved