There are different guidelines of identifying fake news and there are some tests that we

can use as fact checking which is generalized into examining the whole content of the
information that we see and its factors like the date of its publication and its author credibility. It
can also be compared to other sources to identify its accuracy and relevancy as a legit
information.
The following "checklists" provide lists of criteria and questions to consider when assessing a news
story:

 The CRAAP Test (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose)

A list of questions designed to help evaluate information.

Currency - The timeliness of the information.

Relevance - The importance of the information for your needs.

Authority - The source of the information.

Accuracy - The reliability, truthfulness and correctness of the content.

Purpose - The reason the information exists.

 The P.R.O.V.E.N. Test for Evaluating Sources (Purpose, Relevance, Objectivity,

Verifiability, Expertise, Newness) Designed to help determine if information sources are
credible. Access via the Santa Barbara City College Luria Library Real vs. Fake News Guide.
 
 The Process of Establishing Integrity Checklist Designed to provide a "self-empowering
and didactic path to finding trustworthy articles and sources of information."  Access via
the Global Critical Media Literacy Project; direct link to the Checklist.

Checklist:

Authority - If a Web site, what is the domain name (e.g., .gov, .org, .com, country)?

Design and Usability - Is correct spelling and grammar used?

The Message - How does the headline support the main point(s)?

Fake news is one of the prevalent issues nowadays. With the presence of advance
technology and platforms such as social media, it is easy to spread false information in just a
second. In fact, it is getting harder each day to point out which news are authentic and not. This
dark side of the social media has dramatic impacts to the ones who reads and sees it which
demands to be addressed. Furthermore, misinformation can affect people in a way that their
emotional, political, and economical viewpoint are wrongly influenced and manipulated. As an
individual, it is our obligation to be a responsible user and we should educate ourselves with the
ways and actions we could do on how to combat fake news. According to MindTools, here are
some steps on how to spot real and fake news
• Develop a Critical Mindset
Fake news are mostly believable which causes a person to get easily caught out. These are
also written to create a strong emotional reaction such as anger or fear. Thus, it is important that
you keep your emotions in check to avoid getting deceived. Also, having a rational and critical
thinking is needed in dealing with what you see and hear.

• Check the Source

People who spread fake news create web pages, newspaper mockups, doctored images that
look official but are completely not. To avoid getting tricked, check the web address of the page
you're reading, some spelling errors, or anything suspicious. You can also look up the author of
the article is they are credible and known and don't forget to check the date. Some news are
only reposted where in fact it actually happened years ago.

• See Who Else Is Reporting the Story

This might be one of the best ways to verify a news. Searching for other sources who also
reports the same story can help in validating a story you have just read or seen. But, it does not
automatically mean that if everyone else is reporting it, it's true. Make sure first if the other
sources are credible or not.

• Examine the Evidence

Credible news includes facts such as quotes from experts, survey data or detailed and
consistent accounts from eye-witnesses. Have second thoughts if these important details are
missing. Also, consider if the mentioned facts are definitely true or just stated to twist what's
authentic.

• Don't Take Images at Face Value

With the advancement of technology, anything can be easily "photoshopped" or edited in just a
snap to make it look legit. Hence, you should look for any strange details in images like
shadows or jagged edges around a figure. Furthermore, some images are completely accurate
but used in a wrong context. For instance, photos of litter covering a beach could be from a
different beach or from 10 years ago.
• Check That it "Sounds Right"
Fake news is meant to feed your biases, hopes, and fears. Your instinct and common sense
alone can be handful in stopping fake news.
 Practice “deep grammar.” The confusion in news was usually facilitated by knowledge of
the media’s deep grammar and their subsequent manipulation of news outlets. They know that
the people need to have access to the news they are producing. When everyone knows how to
have deep grammar, they will go beyond the explicit intention of the news. Deep grammar is like
the logic beneath the practice. Aside from simply reading the news, the purpose and legacies of
the news source should also be properly observed.

According to the study of de Beer and Matthee (2021), machine learning algorithms can
be used to identify fake news. This is achieved through using different types of training datasets
to refine the algorithms. Datasets enables computer scientists to develop new machine learning
approaches and techniques. Datasets are used to train the algorithms to identify fake news.
How are these datasets created? One way is through crowdsourcing. Perez-Rosas et al. (2018)
created a fake news data set by first collecting legitimate information on six different categories
such as sports, business, entertainment, politics, technology and education (Pérez-Rosas et al.
2018). Crowdsourcing was then used and a task was set up which asked the workers to
generate a false version of the news stories (Pérez-Rosas et al. 2018). Over 240 stories were
collected and added to the fake news dataset.
A machine learning approach called the rumor identification framework has been developed that
legitimizes signals of ambiguous posts so that a person can easily identify fake news
(Sivasangari et al. 2018). The framework will alert people of posts that might be fake
(Sivasangari et al. 2018). The framework is built to combat fake tweets on Twitter and focuses
on four main areas; the metadata of tweets, the source of the tweet; the date and area of the
tweet, where and when the tweet was developed (Sivasangari et al. 2018). By studying these
four parts of the tweet the framework can be implemented to check the accuracy of the
information and to separate the real from the fake (Sivasangari et al. 2018). Supporting this
framework, the spread of gossip is collected to create datasets with the use of a Twitter
Streaming API (Sivasangari et al. 2018).
Twitter has developed a possible solution to identify and prevent the spread of misleading
information through fake accounts, likes and comments (Atodiresei et al. 2018) - the Twitter
crawler, a machine learning approach works by collecting tweets and adding them to a
database, making comparison between different tweets possible.

Since we have already an advanced technology, we have developed machine learning

algorithms in determining a fake news. Nowadays a lot of people really distribute bunch of fake
news through media, but it is really abundant on social media. It is a great help for us to easily
fact check an article or post, since fake news have spread out on every social media sites. Fake
news misleads the people from seeing the truth, and changing the fact to turn things around for
their own benefit. We should learn how to disseminate and filter the right information, with the
help of the guidelines on determining fake news, not just for ourselves, but also for the people
around us.

References:
Fake News Guide: Tips and Resources. (2017). Retrieved April 19, 2021. Mount Allison
University. Tips and Resources - Fake News Guide - Mount A Libraries at Mount Allison
University Libraries & Archives (mta.ca) 

How to Spot Real and Fake News. Mind Tools. Retrieved from How to Spot Real and Fake
News - From MindTools.com

Fake News and Alternative Facts. (2011). Retrieved June 27, 2021, from Google Books
website: https://books.google.com.ph/books?
id=yh99DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=how+to+identify+fake+news&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2
ahUKEwiAlO67iLfxAhW94zgGHcr6DGQQ6AEwAXoECAkQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

de Beer and Matthee, 2021. Approaches to Identify Fake News: A Systematic Literature
Review. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-49264-9_2