Are You Susceptible To Fake News? Take The Test
Fake news has increasingly become a menace to democracies across the globe. As a weapon of political warfare, fake news easily and effectively plays into people's hearts and minds—particularly their biases and fears. It will fool otherwise thoughtful people, worry them, manipulate their thoughts, and ultimately control their opinions and who they vote for.
Nobody likes to be a stooge. Most of us want the truth. For this reason, fellows at the University of Cambridge have developed a comprehensive test of misinformation susceptibility as part of a study.
If you would like to participate in the study by taking the test, you'll quickly learn whether or not you're susceptible to fake news. You do not need to download anything or provide any information to take the test.
We've taken the test. It gives you an option to view either 20 or 16 news headlines. You decide which headlines are real or fake. That's all there is to it.
You can take the test and learn more about it here. If the webpage is slow to load, too many people might be using it simultaneously. If so, please keep the tab open, and try again a few moments later.
In the comment section, tell us what you think about the test, and then let us know if the image above is fake news or real.
Serenity Township
Above: Fake!
Well Street
I scored 14/20, meaning I can be somewhat objective and not overly gullible, but I can be fooled.
I remember hearing the French scientist story. If real, I figured there'd be a lot more noise about it from various media outlets.
Youngdannville
Are you sure the test isn’t fake
Evangel
After taking the test, I got some sort of cheerful, animated burst of confetti and streamers. That meant none of their 20 headlines pulled the wool over my eyes.
Slipstream
I didn't do too well. It seems I think most everything is fake.
youtropolis
The test allows us to gauge how susceptible we can be to manipulations of news, and the results can surprise us all. The line between truth and falsehood has been blurred.
Democratize the public square and there will be opinions which are neither wholly accurate or intentionally misleading. Opinions often lack depth, and in today's social media world lies travel faster than the truth.
Control the news, and it will favor whoever is in charge of it. It will involve disinformation and deliberate misinformation.
Good, reliable information has been well-researched and documented. It contains the highest levels of truth. But it will likely be amended, distorted, killed from publishing, deleted, removed, or accused of being fake news by those who don't want the truth to come to light.
It's hard to discern what's real and what's fake. The image above is partly true and partly false.
For those of you who took the test, you'll likely question every headline from now on, even from trusted news sources. Caution and deeper inquiry, along with seeking out perspectives from various sources, both left and right, may get you closest to the truth.
Thanks for your participation and comments!