Name: Fact or CAP? How to Deal With Clickbait
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Why do people make clickbait, and how do we identify false information in it? Sometimes it helps to have a system to ID the CAP.

Watch out for clickbait that’s designed to spread misinformation.

Alex Clark is the Digital Video Producer for the NOVA Science Studio. He produces original videos for the program and leads video production training for site coordinators and students. Alex is a video journalist, cinematographer, and instructor of documentary filmmaking and he holds a degree in journalism from Columbia University. He has created TV and digital content for PBS, NBC, and NowThis. A lover of all things science, he produced and co-hosted Vox’s Emmy-nominated YouTube series, Glad You Asked.

Why do people make clickbait, and how do we identify false information in it? Sometimes it helps to have a system to ID the CAP.

Fact or CAP? How to Deal With Clickbait

Watch out for clickbait that’s designed to spread misinformation.

Body & Brain

Fact or CAP? How to Deal With ClickbaitPublished: June 28, 2021Alex Clark: We are bombarded with clickbait, whether it's that quick fix for an ailment or that one simple trick that's going to make your computer or your phone run faster. It's that piece of information, that sensational headline that's designed to get you to click it, and it takes you often to another webpage. But what really becomes dangerous and has the potential to impact our politics, health decisions, even how we view other people, is when clickbait is used to spread misinformation. Everything from immigration, to climate change, to policy proposals like the Green New Deal, have suffered from clickbait articles written about them. In recent years, one of the most common refrains in politics has been a surge of misinformation around election season.So-called fake news can have real world consequences.In 2016 is when many of us first hear this term fake news, used as intentional disinformation about politicians and their issues.Acosta: Can you state categorically-Donald Trump: You are fake news.Alex Clark: One analysis looked at more than 30 million social media posts before the election that had links to external sites. That analysis found that 10%, more than 3 million of these, went directly to fake news sites. And another 15% went to sites that had highly biased news coverage. That's nearly 7.5 million individual posts that could be reshared and retweeted. But what was the source of all of this fake news? In 2016, a major producer of this content is Macedonia, or North Macedonia. That's not to say they were the only country making fake news, but they made a ton of it. And a lot of it came from a single town called Veles, home to fewer than 50,000 residents. You see, according to reporting, a group of Macedonian teenagers in and around Veles actually played an outsized role in crafting the narrative about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton by creating all of these fake news sites. In the years that followed 2016, analysis from U.S. intelligence and also Reuters and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project all found linkages between Russian intelligence and political news sites in the country of Macedonia. But regardless of the impetus of the misinformation machine, one thing was certain. Once the ball was rolling, residents in the town saw this as a way to make some quick money. And they did. Every time somebody goes to one of these news sites, it loads up ads on the page and automated advertising engines like Google's AdSense pay for the views or referrals to other sites. Sometimes the money from a single visitor could be less than a penny. During peak season, this rate rose as high as $14 per 1,000 views. And these sites were generating hundreds of millions of views. However, it was the 2016 election that threw things into hyperdrive. Hundreds of fake news sites were created around politics. So, fast forward. In response to the public pressure against these so-called fake news sites, sites like Facebook tightened up on this information blocking multiple pages from Veles and also restricting political ad sales to foreign entities. Twitter now even alerts people when they're sharing something without actually reading an article. It's all an attempt to slow down misinformation. But clickbait is still around and it's here to stay. As a producer, it takes a lot of work to discern what is reality from what is information being presented to us just to sell clicks. I've got my own full-proof method, but before that, I wanted to speak to Arun Rath, host of GBH's "All Things Considered" to see how he verifies information. When you create content, what's your kind of driving vision or how do you start to approach your hypothesis when you're crafting a story?Arun Rath: Being in public broadcasting, you know, it really is thinking about listener service, ideally. That's what we're supposed to do, right? If you're getting lots of clicks that means that you're reaching lots of people and that's what we really wanna do. But that's the trick is balancing that with getting people's attention with things that are real, right?Alex Clark: I've identified a simple three-step process to identify whether information is real or if it's cap.DJ: Cap. Yeah, that's cap. Cap. Yeah, that's cap. Cap. Yeah, that's cap. Yeah! That's cap.Alex Clark: All right, so cap is pretty simple. The C stands for Check the source.DJ: Cap.Alex Clark: Is the author of this information apparent? Who's posting it and how is it being presented to you? Is the platform a trustworthy source for this type of content? If not, then, yeah, maybe it's cap.Arun Rath: I never even heard that phrase before, but that's the first thing I think, you know, when I see something that looks, wow, that looks amazing, the source is the first thing that I think about. My kids, who are now very attuned to media, that's something that I've ended up drilling into them over and over again.Alex Clark: Arun is right. For example, in the medical information that you might find on Instagram. Ask yourself, is Instagram really the only place I can find this information and are there credible sources elsewhere that can corroborate it? Part two of the cap test. A stands for Analyze. Analyze the evidence. What evidence is being used to justify the claims actually being made? If you see an article saying, "A new study says," look at that actual study and see how it compares to how it's being presented or framed in the article. You might find that they're very different. And maybe even reach out to the expert who published that story to get their point of view.Arun Rath: Something that I've told a lot of producers starting out, even if you don't wanna get into investigative journalism, you'd be surprised by how many people will answer your questions who you would think wouldn't respond to you if you just like call them and ask them. It starts off with picking up the phone and calling people.Alex Clark: And that makes a lot of sense that the experts can dissect a lot of science information quickly. Take this example. In 2014, a rash of misinformation headlines claimed that farts could potentially cure your cancer. These are based off of a report about a new compound that delivered small bits of hydrogen sulfide to aid mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell. But nowhere did this say that you should smell your farts to prevent cancer. The headlines on the other hand...DJ: Cap.Alex Clark: Also be aware that science is a process that continuously involves researching and finding new information to verify a claim. You have to be attentive to developments that occur over time to make sure you still have the most recent and accurate evidence. Back to cap. P stands for Process the purpose. Pay attention to content that contains very hyperbolic language to get a point across. Misinformation often depends on using language that elicits outrage or fear to directly appeal to our emotions. If this is the case with the article or video that you're reviewing, then it likely doesn't meet all of the criteria to be taken at face value. In fact, it may be cap. In conclusion, it all comes down to the motivations of the creator of the content that you're reviewing. They could be economic, as in the case of North Macedonian teenagers, or they could be political articles about a candidate or a party. So whether you're a creator of content or just reading through the headlines, keep your thinking caps on, and just remember to watch out for cap.

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Fact or CAP? How to Deal With Clickbait

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Support Provided By

Explore More

How Mask-Wearing Misinformation Became a Reality

Why Misinformation Matters

Origins of Misinformation and How it Spreads