Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has made 10,000 false or misleading statements, according to a report by the Washington Post.

With this staggering number in mind, it’s easier than ever to feel little sceptical about some of his statements of “facts.” And according to a new study by Media Matters, a nonprofit watchdog group, he’s not the only one responsible for spreading #fakenews.

The first time I explained to my son, as a preschooler, that cartoon characters were not really real but drawn and animated on a computer, it blew his mind. How could something that looked so realistic actually be fake? I think I now know how he felt; lately, the more I learn about AI-generated photos, the more my brain wants to rebel against the whole notion.

It’s happened before, and with another American presidential election looming next year, it’s going to happen again and again. The spread of “fake news,” the incorrect labelling of real news as “fake,” and overall confusion as to how to tell the difference.

The theory of a flat earth is wrong. To the point where even typing the words 'the theory of a flat earth is wrong' is giving the "theory" too much credit. But a confession: I find flat earth theory and the people who believe in it fascinating. I don't mean to patronise. It's just really interesting.

I also really, really love the drawings and paintings: the depictions of what a flat earth might look like from space, created by artists who are 100 per cent serious. Here are a few of my favourites.

Microsoft is expanding its war on fake news to the mobile front. The latest update for its Edge browser app incorporates a news-flagging feature that was previously only available on the desktop version as an optional plug-in.

Ankle scarves! What a ridiculous trend! Twitter users are asking each other how something as dumb as “ankle scarves’ could be real. ” Well — and I’m afraid to reveal this, because so many real media outlets are falling for it — it’s not real. It’s an obvious joke.

Here’s how it got laundered into a “crazy trend” for everyone to laugh and be outraged at on social media.

Over the past year, all (well, at least most) of us have gotten a little more sceptical about what we read in the news, especially on social media.

Enough is enough. We're here to set the record straight on Netflix's supposed "hidden" library of movies and TV shows that can only be accessed with secret codes. In short, tech blogs have been lying to you - there's no such thing.

We’ve seen a lot of political turmoil in recent years, and technology has been front and centre of the blame game.

In this episode of That Startup Show, we’re asking whether it has disrupted democracy for better or worse.

Chrome: The same open-source software company that wants to keep covert cryptocurrency mining out of your browser also wants to keep "fake news" from enriching your life. Or, at the very least, Eyeo wants to show you whether your favourite news sites are full of FUD and bias.

At Google I/O earlier this month, CEO Sundar Pichai showcased an experimental Google Assistant feature called Duplex which can make routine phone calls on your behalf. In one striking demo, the digital assistant called a hair salon and scheduled an appointment with an employee at the other end in a voice punctuated with the vocal tics of a real human.

Today, sweet-toothed Aussies awoke to the distressing news that Starburst lollies are being pulled from supermarket shelves. "Say goodbye to your childhood!" one news story proclaimed. "A sad day for your tastebuds!" shrieked another. Except the panic is entirely unfounded. Starburst lollies aren't going anywhere.

When you're reading the news, it can feel reassuring when the journalist backs up their claim with survey results. But not all surveys are equally trustworthy. Thankfully there are a few telltale signs of untrustworthy polls - as well as polls you can kind of trust. Yeah, it's a spectrum.

Using an increasingly sophisticated method for making fake videos, or "deepfakes," video editors can realistically face-swap someone into a video. (As our sister site Gizmodo reports, the technology has been especially popular for making fake celebrity porn.) Deepfakes will soon make it hard to tell when a video of a famous figure is real. To demonstrate, BuzzFeed and director Jordan Peele created a "deepfake" of Barack Obama saying things like "President Trump is a total and complete dipshit."

Okay, that headline is a complete fabrication. A lie. Some people will read it and be delighted or disgusted, even sharing it on social media without realising I am making all this up.

So, Today I (actually) Discovered just how instrumental Twitter has become in spreading fake news, thanks to new research out of MIT.

Facebook has been teasing a massive overhaul to the News Feed - its core product - after widespread, utterly deserved criticism that it had acted as a megaphone for disinformation on an unprecedented scale. Today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced how his platform will handle news, and it's quite possibly the stupidest solution imaginable.

In the year 2017, doctored photos - the shutterbug equivalent to "fake news" - seem to be spreading online faster than ever. Here are just a few of the images we've seen swirling around the internet lately. And none of them are what they appear to be at first glance.

Facebook has a fake news problem. Its most recent trending news misstep promoted misinformation from anonymous messageboard 4chan about the Las Vegas shooting. To combat the spread of fake news (and growing backlash against the company), the social network is testing out a new feature enabling users to tell the difference themselves between an article from a trustworthy publisher, and one that's a bit more suspect than usual, by hitting a "more information" button.

Now more than ever it's important to be able to tell when you're reading #FakeNews. However, determining whether something is fake or real isn't always easy. Think you know your stuff? Give Factitious a try.