It's hard not to share shocking or amazing things through social media. And even if you are not sharing, anytime you go online to TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, etc, you will find some viral post or video which may or may not be real.
How do you determine if a social media post is real?
- Check the account.
- Has it been active long? How many posts does it have?
- If there are only a few posts that could be a sign. If the source is known, but the account was just created, that is another warning.
If you see a post on a site other than the original, make sure that you can click on the post and it takes you to that account.
Don't believe an image of a social media post.
Images:
It is incredibly easy to manipulate an image, or create a new one with AI. Use sources like Google Images and TinEye to perform a reverse image search.
Video
It is also incredibly easy to manipulate a video, or use AI to create one. Check out these sources for tips on spotting a fake video.