♫ ♫ If I told you that this was the world's biggest hamburger, would you believe me? What about now? How about if you saw a video claiming that a baseball player hit a home run into the ocean? Or what about this online article that says a UFO was spotted in Ottawa? These are just silly examples, of course, but each one shows how tricky it can be, to be sure if what you see online is real or not. In the hamburger example, it sure seemed big until we zoomed out. And could a baseball player really hit a ball into the ocean? Well, it's possible.
What about the UFO sighting? It sounds like a fake, but would you know for sure? How do we tell if what we see online is real or not? Well, you can verify it. To verify something means to prove that it is real. Let's look at a couple of ways you can verify if something online is a fact or a fake! Adults love talking. And one of the easiest things you can do is just ask a parent, guardian or teacher. Some example questions you can ask are, is this real? Where did it come from? Is it from a site you can trust? Adults might not have all the answers, but it's a good place to start.
You can also try searching the Internet. For the UFO story, you could type UFO sighting, fake or hoax into the search bar and examine the results. This will help you find out if someone else has already verified it and whether it's a fact or a fake. If you were hoping to meet an alien. Sorry, friends, this one's… This one's a fake. Hey, is someone going to go help that cow?.