Types of Fake Online Information

Whāinga ako: Lesson Goals

To understand the key terms used in this assessment

What is Satire?

Satire is humour that pokes at serious issues in society. It often appears as serious and can be shared on by people thinking that it is real. For example, a while back there was an article claiming that Disney was lowering the drinking age at Disneyland so that they could sell more drinks. This was shared widely online because people thought it was real.

Manufactured Images

Manufactured images are images made with AI or edited by a person to deliberately mislead people. For example, a company that sells weightloss products might edit their photos to make it look like a person has lost a lot of weight.

An example of this are deepfake images. A deepfake is an image, video or audio recording that has been digitally altered to realistically show something that never actually happened. It can be very hard to tell a deepfake from reality.

The rise of deepfakes, videos made with AI to falsely show people saying or doing things, has raised concerns about spreading misinformation and harming reputations. What do you notice about this video that gives it away?

Incorrect content 'Facts'

Information that is inaccurate or false. These get shared online as facts e.g. certain food could cure cancer.

Here are some examples of incorrect content that people have believed to be true in the past. They were so widely believed that some people still don't realise they aren't true.