Key tips to spot propaganda and fake news

As Russia’s censorship and propaganda techniques intensify, Surfshark‘s Information Security Officer Aleksandr Valentij shares five tips on how to safely track important news without falling for fake news. The tips include reverse image searching, checking metadata, and fact-checking resources. Reports show that Twitter was blocked in Russia, following restrictions of Facebook servers amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Social media censorship stops the free flow of information and hinders people from getting unbiased information.

Spot propaganda and fake news

“Censoring widely used social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook damages people’s ability to get unbiased news about the current war. Moreover, having fewer information sources makes people more susceptible to misleading or false news. Disinformation campaigns aim to distract, confuse, manipulate, and sow division, discord, and uncertainty in the community,” explains Aleksandr Valentij.

So how does one find and check the information online? Here are some simple steps Aleksandr Valentij has shared:

1. Check for primary sources

“There is a lot of fake information about the war in Ukraine out there today. In many cases, it is constructed to make it effortless to believe, using photo manipulation techniques, fact-manipulation, and the events depicted or described are difficult to verify or are entirely possible in the nowadays context,” says Aleksandr Valentij, Chief Security Officer at Surfshark.

According to the security expert, to defend yourself from misinformation, it is essential to follow and use those means of communication that quote official sources. It may be the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, verified media outlets, or intelligence information.

However, it is advisable to avoid all Russian information channels as they are usually state-owned and are actively used by the authorities for propaganda.

2. Learn reverse image search

“Usually, people search for images online by typing the chosen keywords into Google search and scrolling through the given results. However, by using reverse image search, they can check the authenticity of most pictures more efficiently. People simply have to choose the image that they want to check and go to www.image.google.com,” says Valentij.

Looking at Google’s “visually similar images”, people can see if the picture was first posted now or a few years ago during a different military conflict. It also allows us to check if the image has been shared on a reputable website or was manipulated in any way.

Additionally, users can cross-check Google search results against other image searching tools to make sure of their findings.

3. Read the metadata

Metadata shows precise details on how and when the video or image was created. According to Valentij, checking it might help people decide whether the news is real or manipulated.

“For example, if you see a message with an image of the supposedly recent incident in Ukraine, but its metadata shows that picture was created in 2019, the facts just don’t line up. Therefore, you can be sure that news is most probably fake and should not be taken for a fact,” – explains Valentij.

To check metadata, users can download the chosen file and use Adobe Photoshop or Bridge software features. There are also online metadata viewers, which allow users to check the data using the image’s web link without any additional software.

Nevertheless, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter often strip the metadata from photos and videos uploaded to their sites. In these cases, people can reverse search the image or ask the message’s author for the original file or clarification.

4. Use fact-checking resources

There are a lot of fact-checking resources on the internet that can help people clarify the situation about the most important events as experts took time to examine those in-depth.

“For example, organizations such as the Australian Associated Press, RMIT/ABC, Agence France-Presse (AFP), and Bellingcat maintain lists of fact-checks their teams have performed for Ukraine’s invasion,” says Valentij.

Moreover, amid the recent surge of propagandist information, Surfshark created a free tool that detects and highlights website links from various media and other websites that are known to spread fake news and misinformation.

“The 21st century has shown that information might be sharper than the sword. Recent events in Ukraine have thrown our world deeper into turmoil and confusion. As a result, we’re releasing a free feature on our browser extensions (Chrome and Firefox) to help anyone avoid false information on the internet,” says Valentij.