Everyone is wary of pranks every April Fool’s Day, but Feona Imperial, a young fact-checker, looks out for false information every day.

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One of the stories recently corrected by the VERA Files fact-checking team, in which she is part of, was posted by the website Philnewscourier. It stated how former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said he would migrate to the United States if Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. wins the vote recount for vice president. This post peaked at 332 likes per hour and could have reached 400,000 people online on April 2, ironically also the International Fact Checking Day.

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Imperial said they were able to tell that the story about the former president was false because no other media outlet reported on the story, when it should have garnered significant reactions from the public as it connects to a former high-ranking official and to the ongoing vote recount.

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Imperial’s work in VERA Files requires searching all kinds of statements that are spreading false information, commonly dubbed as “fake news,” in order to debunk them.

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However, for fact-checkers, the battle does not end with proving a story wrong.

“Iyon ‘yong challenge actually, how do you get people to read your fact-check?” Imperial explained.

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To make their content more appealing to the audience, they use techniques such as infographics, guides, and videos. These types of content have a stronger effect when it comes to views, likes, and shares than traditional articles.

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Imperial had always wanted to become a multimedia and investigative journalist after she graduated. So now that she is part of the VERA Files team, she does not only debunk fake news, but she also helps create fact-checking infographics.

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One of which is the digital guide VERAfied: A DIY guide to fact checking and fighting fake news published on April 2. It aims to teach the basics of fact-checking to people, as the fight is no longer just between the fact-checkers and the purveyors of fake news—it now involves the public as well.

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“I think as users, as netizens kumbaga, we have a shared responsibility to flag those fake news sites as fake,” Imperial said. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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With the introduction of various types of technology and the increasing interactivity of content because of social media, Imperial believes that the youth can use these to their advantage.

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“They are proactive, they are loud, and they can use those traits to help in fighting fake news.”

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Education and skepticism remain the best defenses against false information, she added.

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“In Antique, I had a chance to conduct a workshop among education students, so instead of teaching them how to fact-check, I asked them how would you teach your students to fact-check,” she said.

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She stressed the importance of the truth to the public, because false claims of politicians have effects on public policy, recalling how on August 7, 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte tagged Iloilo as the most “shabulized” province in the country.

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Tourism in Iloilo city had gone down due to security concerns. VERA Files later found out, however, that Iloilo was not included in the 20 most drug-affected provinces or cities based on the 2016 data by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

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“Being critical, it’s very, very important, kasi wherever you go, kahit anong administration iyong ilagay diyan, if you know how to become critical, you will make good decisions, you will make well-informed decisions."

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