The present time brings a disinformation war on many fronts and it is certainly not easy to find your way around it. Politically, media, marketers, but often our loved ones, who share various nonsense circulating on the Internet, attack us with slightly distorted statements, pictures or videos.
If you want to prove to them (or just to yourself) that a train packed by refugees did not actually arrive at the station and that the Russians did not start a war so that Ukrainian children in the Czech Republic have free admission to the zoo, try to refute their reports, for example www.manipulatori.cz.
The main activity of this journalistic website is to check the facts. Its editors and collaborators try to refute hoaxes and other misinformation or verify the statements of politicians and other public officials. You can also find scams such as fake contests, fraudulent e-shops or products on the website.
At the same time, the portal tries to monitor the disinformation scene and draws attention to specific people who consciously and programmatically disseminate disinformation. You also have several instructions on how to deal with misinformation, or the Lexicon section, which is a continuously updated set of factual passwords and serves as a glossary explaining important terms, as well as a signpost that will take you to articles on the topic you are looking for. Last but not least, the web also examines history in relation to misinformation and manipulative behavior.
Czech websites fighting misinformation
The platform deals with verifying the veracity of politicians’ statements www.demagog.cz. As part of the analysis, the project evaluates only the factual statements or statements of politicians, which it subjects to further examination.
One of the most common scandals that occurs on the Internet is the spread of alarming, dangerous and unnecessary chain messages, so-called hoaxes. If you intend to spread an e-mail about the fact that when refueling you can scratch the needle infected with HIV ingeniously set in a refueling gun, you’d better check the truth on the web www.hoax.cz.
The world is also still in the lead pandemic. Instructions on how not to fly in an abundance of information in this area are available at covid.gov.cz/situace/hoaxy.
You can also find other websites that will help you not be subjected to manipulation and verify the facts at www.hatefree.cz or hlidacipes.org.
Foreign websites focused on misinformation
You can find international sites fighting especially with false information about the events in Ukraine and Russian propaganda at www.stopfake.org. Neighboring Slovakia is also trying to fight false news and propaganda. It does so, for example, through websites infosecurity.sk or konspiratori.sk.
The aspect of the European project combating misinformation on is also interesting www.euvsdisinfo.eu. Among other things, you can test how you can face various manipulations.
There is a need for nonsense information and instructions on how to defend against it www.politifact.com, www.factcheck.org, www.snopes.com or www.truthorfiction.com.
A handy tool is available on the web fotoforensics.com. It will help you find out if a photo has been edited in graphics programs. It can be easily uploaded via a web address or directly from a computer.
Other interesting sites
The Czech Sisyphus Skeptics Club, which www.sisyfos.cz tries to dispel myths in the field of alternative medicine, ufology or numerology, for example, and to rationally explain some phenomena in these fields.
A very useful tool to help you avoid flying in the Internet world is the Surfer’s Internet Guide, which you can find at zvolsi.info. The web helps users navigate the vast amount of information available on the Internet so that one does not become an unwanted tool of one’s propaganda.
A lot of important information is also concentrated on the website of the Government Center against Terrorism and Hybrid Threats www.mvcr.cz/cthh. Employees of the Ministry of the Interior publish up-to-date analyzes and draw attention to threats associated not only with the information war. Currently, you can read there, for example, about manipulations by the Kremlin propaganda and disinformation scene.
