Fact Checking & Fake News: False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical “News" Sources

(From Paul Cook's Social Media and Information Literacy Exercise

Below is a list of fake, false, regularly misleading, questionable, and/or “news” organizations, and organizations that regularly use clickbait-y headlines and descriptions, that are commonly shared on facebook and other social media sites. Many of these websites rely on “outrage” by using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits.

Other sources on this list are purposefully fake with the intent of satire/comedy, which can offer important critical commentary on politics and society, but they are regularly shared as actual/literal news. I’m including them here, for now, because 1.) they have the potential to perpetuate misinformation based on different audience (mis)interpretations and 2.) to make sure anyone who reads a story by The Onion, for example, understands its purpose. If you think this is unnecessary, please see Literally Unbelievable.

Notes: Not all of these sources are always or inherently problematic, but I’m including them because they should be considered in conjunction with other news/info sources due to their tendency to rely on clickbait headlines etc.