## Step 2. Evidence

It is quite possible that the questions who, where and why do not provide a definitive answer to the question whether the post is based on fact or fiction. Then what do you do? You look for evidence!

##### What is the evidence?

Read the post carefully and check whether the claims are supported by evidence:

##### Check the source:

If something really is news, there are often several sources available that share it independently. You can check this by using a search engine to look for the topic of the post. You will often find better sources or even the original source.

Reliable news reports usually state where the information comes from. Therefore always check the information on which the message is based by checking for source references.

NB! Information from other sources could also have been taken out of context and/or may be unreliable. So check these sources for their reliability as well! Sometimes you may even find a complete fact check of the post, which checks whether the claims in a post are based on facts.

The date on which a post was published is also important, because fake news posts often contain outdated information.

##### Images, data and quotes:

Reliable news items usually clearly state where images, data and quotes come from. Fake news often uses images, data or quotes that come from somewhere else and have nothing to do with the post itself.
Many Dutch statistics can be found on the website of the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS).
There are several ways to trace the origin of images. In Chrome, for example, you can right-click to select "Image search in Google" or enter the URL/photo in Google under "Search by image" to find out the origin of a picture.

Another useful search engine for this is tineye.com. This allows you to sort search results so that the oldest result appears first. You can then compare a found picture with your picture with 'Compare match'. Because different search engines yield different results, you can also install the InVid ad-on in your browser. This gives you the option to search for an image with six search engines at the same time.

If the post has no publication date, if the claims in the post are not supported anywhere else, or if the images used are taken out of context, then you are probably dealing with fake news.