Never before in any UK general election year has so much attention been given to the potential for fake news to influence the decision voters make when they go to the polls. Experts have long predicted that this bumper election year – when the UK, US and multiple other countries globally will be voting in national elections – will see fake news hitting an all-time high. Last year the Mirror reported that the public’s main worry connected to the development of Artificial Intelligence technology was the spread of fake news. The same report identified trusted journalism as essential in minimising the risks around fake news. And this year we have seen activities by bodies as varied as Google, OFCOM and the UK Government attempting to raise awareness and tackle the issue of fake news. Just last week, the Electoral Commission issued warnings to election campaigners urging them to avoid misleading the public. When we think of disinformation – the deliberate sharing of information known to be untrue – we might think of Orwellian activities by hostile state actors such as Russia or North Korea creating a false scenario that gets picked up and played out by national news coverage. But, in actual fact, it is much more likely that voters in the UK are influenced by false information they see posted and shared by people they trust on social media and direct messaging channels. We know false narratives can come dressed in a variety of disguises – from political party campaign propaganda created to look like a local newspaper pushed our letterboxes, through to shareable memes that suggest politicians or their representatives have said or done something stupid. I don’t think I’d be wrong in saying the majority of adults will have seen a version of fake news during this election campaign – even if they themselves don’t know it. It’s here that trusted news brands like the Mirror come in too – if something has been faked to look like it was published by a recognised news outlet, online viewers are more likely to trust it and share it than information that comes from a less well-known source. For example, just a month ago I saw a post which shared a fake inflammatory story about a local business owner in a town in the north of England. The story included a newspaper masthead and the name of a journalist who worked for the title. Upon further investigation, the image had been shared widely on Facebook by a number of people within the local community, many who were most likely spreading the story without realising it was untrue. At a glance the post was convincing, it was only through minor details that a viewer might have seen the story was fabricated. It’s these small, but significantly consequential posts that can convince a group of people connected by social media that an individual in their midst is guilty of crimes they never committed. It’s not a big hitting national fake bombshell that might convince the masses on how to vote, it’s the thousand little lies and insinuations that cruise under the radar among communities on social media that have the potential to push a constituency vote one way or another. That’s why this week the Mirror and its publishing company Reach plc, launched a public awareness campaign to help audiences verify the source of the information they see online. The #GE2024CheckYourSources campaign provides a series of top tips to online users about how to check the validity of the news being shared on social media. Follow these steps to check if the news you see online is the real deal or likely to be fake: 1. Check if there is a link back to a trusted news website or source – if not, then you should be suspicious. 2. Check if the headline appears in an online search – if it doesn’t then it is likely to not be genuine. 3. If a journalist is bylined, check if the story appears on the brand website under their profile 4. Check if the brand logo and text on the post is clear and if it looks legitimate. 5. Check the date of publication to make sure old news is not being disguised as recent information. 6. Report fake news if you spot it on social media platforms. We can’t control the actions of others online – but we can check, question and verify online content. In this general election, taking these kinds of steps has never been more important.
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