Spot Misinformation
AI fakery is everywhere now.
AI photo signs
- Hands — too many fingers, mangled, weird joints.
- Teeth — irregular, blurry, too many.
- Hair — strange flow, blends weird with skin.
- Background — text gibberish, shapes don't make sense.
- Eyes — different colors, asymmetric, dead-looking.
- Glasses — disappear into face.
- Jewelry — symmetric becomes random.
Deepfake video signs
- Eye blinks unnatural / never blink.
- Mouth doesn't match audio perfectly.
- Skin has weird smoothness or sharpness.
- Hair edges blurry.
- Voice slightly robotic / off-cadence.
- Verify: does this person REALLY appear on real news?
Common viral lies
- "Famous person died" — sometimes a hoax. Verify on AP.
- "Government announces" — check actual government site.
- "Doctor says X causes Y" — search original study.
- "Celebrity quote" — many are fabricated.
- Old photos repurposed for current events.
- Out-of-context videos.
"This makes me angry" check
- Strong emotion = likely manipulated content.
- Algorithms feed you outrage to keep you scrolling.
- Pause. Verify before sharing.
- Don't share angry posts within 5 min — wait.
- Often after research — story isn't what it seemed.
Tools that help
Google reverse image search — verify photos. NewsGuard browser extension — rates news sites. Snopes — searches viral claims. Use 30 sec to verify before sharing. Saves embarrassment + slows misinformation.