WhatsApp has emerged as one of the major messaging platforms across the world. In India more than 55 crore users are active on WhatsApp. This means that billions of messages including text, audio and video are sent between users in a span of just 24 hours (1 day).
However, majority of the messages we receive on WhatsApp turn out to be misinformation. If you want to stay away from the misinformation on WhatsApp and crosscheck the messages you can do it yourself. There are some simple ways you can use to check the authencity of a message.
The simple steps below will come in handy to check fake news on WhatsApp.
Closely examine a message
If you receive a message on WhatsApp which is informative in nature use your common sense. Use the internet and cross-check the information that you have received in the message. If you do not find any information about it on the internet then it might be a piece of misinformation. Please do not forward the message to anyone and delete it.
Check the spelling in the message
If you find lots of mistakes in the spelling of words in a particular message then it might be a piece of misinformation. Please do not forward the message to anyone and delete it.
Check the source of the message
By checking the source of a message you can know whether it is authentic or misinformation. In order to check the source of the message, try to find the source name/ website from which it has originated. Search the website if the article is actually published by them or not. There are many situations where a similar/ fake website is used to publish information. Especially is India news relating to religion or politics tends to spread like wildfire. If you ever find any WhatsApp forwarded news which might affect your ideology or religion or political stand, try to be extra careful about it. Cross-check the original article or original website before forwarding a message.
Press Information Bureau (PIB)
The PIB keeps on cross-checking fake messages which surface from time to time on the internet. Next time you come across such kind of message, open the Twitter PIB page and check it. There are ample chances that PIB might have cross-checked the particular news
Try to recognise forwarded message
There are ample chances that a forwarded message might be a piece of misinformation. WhatsApp has introduced the forward messages feature way back in 2018. You can easily know whether a message is forwarded or not (by checking an icon on the top left corner).
Next time you receive a WhatsApp message which is informative in nature, don’t forward it without cross-checking it. Take some time, reflect on it and then forward it if you find it necessary. In these modern times of internet, a small misinformation can cause blunders. So be careful while forwarding any message to others.
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Ms Kalinga
Thanks for the beautiful information about fake messages in WhatsApp.Really helpful.