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Articles on Hoaxes

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A rock with the message ‘Every Child Matters’ painted on it sits at a memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, in Kamloops, B.C., in July 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their ‘mass grave hoax’ theory

Contrary to what some ‘denialists’ believe, research shows that Canadian media outlets did not help circulate a ‘mass grave hoax’ regarding unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools.
Spanish authors (from left), Agustin Martinez, Jorge Diaz and Antonio Mercero, who have been writing bestsellers as Carmen Mola. Quique Garcia/EPA

What makes a good literary hoax? A political point, for starters

A true hoax provokes. It questions cultural biases, shattering conventions. But the curious case of the three men writing as a female author Carmen Mola does none of this.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian governments not only have to deal with the virus but also with the false information surrounding it.

Three fact-checking challenges in Southeast Asia

With a limited number of fact-checkers in Southeast Asia, fact-checking content becomes a challenging task to complete.
People display Qanon messages on cardboards during a political rally in Bucharest, Romania on Aug. 10, 2020. (Shutterstock)

Folk devils and fear: QAnon feeds into a culture of moral panic

The QAnon conspiracy movement is the latest in a long line of moral panics that emerge as a response to change. False theories are used to undermine claims to social justice raised by marginalized groups.
A sign outside Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, B.C., explains visitor restrictions to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Conspiracy theorists are falsely claiming that the coronavirus pandemic is an elaborate hoax

Hospitals have requested that people avoid non-emergency visits, and conspiracy theorists are posting images of empty parking lots online as false proof that COVID-19 is an elaborate hoax.
FOX News host Sean Hannity (pictured here in 2018) gave credibility to a tweet he read out lout on his popular syndicated radio show, which called COVID-19 a fraud “to spread panic in the populace, manipulate the economy and suppress dissent.” AP/Julie Jacobson

Coronavirus ‘cures’ for $170 and other hoaxes: Why some people believe them

Why have conspiracy theories so easily circulated during the COVID-19 pandemic? What do these theories tell us about societies and what challenges do they present?
Families should be more involved in digital literacy education as parents are the ones who introduce digital media to their children. Shutterstock.com

Researchers find Indonesia needs more digital literacy education

Dozens of voluntary researchers in nine Indonesian cities mapped digital literacy activities and they found the country needs much more to solve their digital media problems.
Traditional media gatekeepers are toast. 'Toaster' via www.shutterstock.com

Why do we fall for fake news?

Researcher who has studied online news for 20 years says people fall for fake news because they don’t value journalistic sources and consider themselves and their friends as credible news sources.

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