From fake news to deepfakes, the amount of misinformation online has never been higher.  As such, a number of attempts have been made to develop programs to help us get better at spotting fakes online.  Most of these have taken the form of games, and a recent effort from researchers at Uppsala University is no different.

The News Evaluator is a self-test that aims to train us to assess things like the news, videos, and images online.  The test has been developed based on research that was documented in a recently published paper, which shows that users improved their ability to apply critical thinking to digital sources.

Spotting fakes

The tool is designed to allow users to work with it on their own online.  They’re presented with a variety of news stories in a social-media-like format, complete with images and videos, and are tasked with determining the credibility of the story.

“The aim is for the students to get better at uncovering what isn’t true, but also improve their understanding of what may be true even if it seems unlikely at first,” the researchers say.

The tool also provides users with guidance from professionals on how they would assess the authenticity of content, such as by using reverse image searching.  Users are also encouraged to double-check the news they’re reading, before given feedback on their performance on the tasks.

On testing with a few hundred volunteers, the tool appeared to be effective in raising the ability of users to critically assess sources.  Users were found to achieve much better results, especially when paired with expert guidance and feedback, than their peers who were given no such assistance.  The tool also proved more effective than similar interventions designed to improve our critical thinking skills.

The experiment, and its findings, prompted one final bit of advice from the researchers.

“Make sure you keep up to date with information and news from trustworthy sources with credible practices of fact-checking, such as the national TV news programmes or an established daily newspaper,” the researchers conclude. “It’s difficult and arduous being critical about sources all the time.”