03
What's the date?
A true story from five years ago can become today's fake news.
Why it's a trap
It's one of the web's most efficient recycling schemes: nothing to invent, nothing to fake. Take an authentic piece of content (a flood filmed years ago, an outdated alert, an old statement) and repost it today, without a date. Emotion does the rest.
The trap cuts both ways: true-but-old content may have become false (the rule changed, the product was recalled, the alert was lifted)… or may still be perfectly valid. The date is what settles it, not the look of the message.
The moves
- Look for a date: the publication date, and the date of the facts. They are often two different dates.
- No visible date? Search the message's keywords: the first publication usually surfaces fast.
- For a picture or a video, a reverse image search shows when it has circulated before.
- Before sharing an alert or an instruction, ask: is it still current, here and now?
The classic trap
“Look what's happening RIGHT NOW on the coast!” The video is spectacular, black sky, huge waves. The same video already circulated during a storm years earlier. The sea was real. The “right now” was not.
Keep in mind
Undated information can be made to say anything.
Practise this reflex
Cases in the library train precisely this reflex:
- What should you do? (Health & miracle cures)
- What are the traps here? (Health & miracle cures)
- What's the right response? (Health & miracle cures)