How to Check Fake News, AI Deepfakes & Media Bias

How to verify a viral video or news claim

1. Separate the claim from the tone: write down what is actually being alleged.
2. Check the oldest available upload, date, location, and the original source—not only a screenshot or repost.
3. Search for corroborating reporting and primary evidence; compare at least one high-authority reference before sharing.
4. For possible synthetic media, inspect audio-video sync, provenance labels, whether Content Credentials are available, abrupt edits, and whether a trusted source has addressed the clip. Credentials provide useful provenance context, but their absence is not proof that content is false.
5. Use reverse-image search to find older appearances of a still, then use a fact-check database to locate published checks and read the cited evidence and update date.

Verify news found in an AI answer

AI chatbots can be a useful starting point, not a final citation. Open the linked original reporting or primary document, check its publication date and context, then compare independent sources before repeating a claim. The Reuters Institute’s 2026 executive summary reports growing AI-chatbot news use alongside heightened misinformation concerns; its findings are a reason to keep the verification step visible.

For breaking news, avoid relying on a single generated summary or a cropped video. Look for named sources, full context, corrections, and evidence you can inspect.

Reputable source trail

These links support E-E-A-T without pretending the site itself is a fact-checking institution. Reuters Institute research frames audience and trust questions; Poynter, the News Literacy Project, UNESCO, and Google’s Fact Check Explorer offer pathways for verification work.

• Pew Research Center: News Habits & Media — research on how people find, use, and evaluate news
• Poynter MediaWise — practical media-literacy resources for checking online information
• Associated Press: Artificial Intelligence coverage — reported context for developments involving artificial intelligence
• News Literacy Project — nonpartisan news-literacy education and misinformation resources
• UNESCO: Media and Information Literacy — global framework for evaluating information and media
• Columbia Journalism Review — independent reporting and analysis of journalism
• Nieman Journalism Lab — journalism innovation, platforms, AI, and audience-trust coverage
• Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2026 — international research on news consumption, platformisation, trust, online video, creators, and AI chatbots
• Reuters Institute: 2026 Digital News Report executive summary — current evidence on misinformation concern, trust, AI news use, and source verification
• MIT News: consequences of relying on AI for accurate news — reporting on research about AI-assisted verification and misinformation discernment
• C2PA: Content Credentials — open technical standard and explainer for recording content provenance and edits
• International Fact-Checking Network: Code of Principles — standards reference for transparent, nonpartisan fact-checking practice
• Google Fact Check Explorer — searchable index of published fact checks; use it to find, not substitute for, original evidence