Click wisely: recognizing fake news in politics, history and everyday life

Keywords

fake news, disinformation, conflicts of memory, damnatio memoriae, clickbait

Introduction

1. Begin your lesson with a brief discussion with your students regarding the Internet and social media. Do they often share articles and posts on social media? Do they read the entire post before sharing it? Or is a headline enough to catch their attention and make them share it? Have they often been tricked by a sensational headline and clicked it, only to discover the content is not so exciting or even untrue? How did this make them feel? Try to have a rapid exchange of ideas
   to warm up the class.
2. Distribute the worksheets and sets of source material among the students.
3. Let the students know that during the lesson they are going to work both individually and in groups.

Development

1. Sensationalism and the goal to attract public attention to gain more money is not an 20th-century discovery. That was used in different guises starting with the 19th century. However, the Internet and social media have enhanced the ways to spread fake news. Fortunately, the Internet can also be a useful tool to verify information and uncover fake news. Direct the students’ attention towards Source A, a short text about the history of fake news. Ask the students to work individually on Exercise 1. Once that has been done, a student will read the answers while the rest will approve or correct.
2. To continue, ask the students how often they were tricked into opening an article with a sensational title only to find unimportant or fake information. Ask the students if they are familiar with the concept ‘clickbait’ that refers to a sensational headline that entices someone to click on it, so the authors gain more advertising money. Also emphasise that clickbait is usually strongly linked with fake news,
   and it is a current method of spreading this kind of information.
3. Direct the students’ attention towards Source B to learn about the characteristics of clickbait and how to spot it. Reflect on the conclusion of the short text: ‘If the headline tells you how to feel instead of letting you come up with your own reaction, it’s probably clickbait.’
4. To understand the concept of clickbait and fake news better, read Source C that describes how a charming story about a bear, who joined the Polish troops during the Second World War, was used to create fake news. Ask the students to form groups of up to six persons and to work on Exercise 2. Set a time limit of 15 minutes. At the end, a representative of each group will write down on the
   board the clickbait headline and clickbait-fake news sequence.
5. Damnatio memoriae is a modern Latin phrase meaning ‘condemnation of memory’. That meant that the memory of a particular person was to be removed from official reports and anywhere they are represented, even visual ones. The practice was used in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. The modern world has seen it under Stalin’s USSR and in China recently. According to some scholars, traces of damnatio memoriae are present in the Black Lives Matter movement’s call for the removal of certain statues from public spaces. In this context, direct the students’ attention towards Source D. Work together on
   a metaplan centred on the following claim: ‘In contemporary authoritarian regimes some political leaders are erased from history.’ Demonstrate by providing answers to the following questions: ‘How is it done?‘ and ‘Why is it the way it is?‘ Build an alternative approach to history by answering  the questions: ‘How should it be done?‘ and ‘What can be done?‘
6. Cyber attacks and fake news do not target only individuals or companies; they also target countries, which may lead to destabilisation. The case of Estonia in 2007 offers an example of how disinformation, fake news and cyber attacks generate riots and disrupt major national institutions. Use Source E and ask the students to work on Exercise 4.

Conclusion

To conclude, reflect with your students on the benefits the Internet brings by providing access to vast amounts of information. Together, reflect on the fact that part of the shared information is untrue and is deliberately intended to manipulate
in order to gain money or influence people in a desired direction.

Homework

Please write a short essay describing a clickbait that led to a story you felt you needed to verify. Describe the process of verification.

Sources and worksheet