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What is disinformation?
Disinformation is information that is purposely manipulated to be distorted and not represent an accurate situation or reporting of a fact. There are three main categories of dis-information.
Hoaxes
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Hoaxes are a form of disinformation that tricks people into believeing something is true when its not. They can be found in many forms online but most commonly include: > Fake news, which are fabricated stories designed to manipulate readers into certain fears or behaviours > Viral messages, often pretending to be from a friend of family member asking for money > Deep fakes, where videos of peoples faces or bodies are manipulated to make it look like they hae said or done something they haven't
Scams
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Scams involve tricking people into sharing personal information about themselves which the criminal can leverage for personal gain. Scams include: > False advertising - where people buy products and services that don't exisit or are not as described > Phishing - when people receive emails which they think are from credible organisations asking for something, usually credit card details, which can even extend into blackmail > Catfishing - when someone pretends to be another person to con people into doing thinks > Identity theft - where people are tricked into sharing personal information to help them hack other accounts
Online Challenges
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Online challenges are social media activities that normally involves sharing a video of yourself doing a specific task. Some are genuine and fun to raise awareness for good causes, but others may contain dangerous stunts that could cause physical or psychological harm to a person or others. .