Lib Dem leader warns against ‘fake news’ after false squirrel story goes viral
She warned the public to be wary before sharing fake content on social media.
Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson has warned the public to be wary of sharing misinformation after a story went viral that claimed she had abused squirrels.
Doctored images claiming to show an article on the Mirror’s website were shared thousands of times across Twitter and Facebook last week, including by a number of pro-Brexit and Brexit Party groups.
The false story, written by non-existant journalist “Wurrance Telephene”, claimed the Lib Dem leader was blasted by animal rights charities after “harrowing footage” was found on a private Facebook account.
“There was one that used Peter Walker’s name from the Guardian and he had to go online to debunk it and say he never wrote it.
“But they’re quite sophisticated in that people believe them.
“I think it’s very difficult to prevent the spread.”
Researchers at First Draft, a non-profit group fighting misinformation, found that the false story was originally circulated among anonymous pro-Labour accounts, confined to a fairly small section of Twitter.
The Medium post has since been removed.
The post received few interactions until it was shared by a Brexit Party account on November 14 with nearly 9,000 followers.
It then picked up more than 20,000 interactions across social media.
Posts promoting the story can still be found across both Twitter and Facebook, despite both social companies vowing to tackle misinformation on their platforms.
How to spot ‘fake news’
With an increasing number of false news stories circulating online, members of the public need to be wary before sharing anything online.
First, vet the publisher’s credibility. Is it a legitimate news source, written by a legitimate journalist? If the domain name is something like “.com.co” it is likely the site is illegitimate.
Pay attention to the quality — are there grammatical errors? Google the story and see if it’s old or recycled.
If the story is reliant on images, a reverse image search can establish where these came from. If the story is a screengrab of what looks like a legitimate website, find the original version. It’s easy to edit pictures so they look real.
If in doubt, don’t share the story. Visit a fact-checking website, or see what legitimate news sources are saying before you retweet content.
Facebook has said it will attempt to crack down on fake content, by flagging it with users. If a story has been debunked, related links will appear next to the original.
