In today’s digital space, where fake information spreads faster than light, fact-checking has become more important than ever, not just for journalists alone but for everyone. This was the focus of the virtual webinar held by Infocus News Agency on Sunday, August 31 2025, via Google Meet.
The session was hosted by Hairat Balogun, the Editor-In-Chief and facilitated by Matthew Ogunwale, a Fact Checker at RoundCheck.
The webinar kicked off at exactly 6:00 PM with Mr. Matthew introducing participants to the theme of the webinar and highlighting its objectives, which are: understanding what fact-checking is, differentiating between misinformation and disinformation, identifying what needs verification, learning the principles of fact-checking, and exploring useful digital verification tools.
Matthew Ogunwale explained that fact-checking is verifying information to confirm whether it is true, false, misleading, or unsupported. It helps people separate facts from opinions, rumours, and outright falsehoods, ensuring truth and accountability in media and communication.
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An important highlight of the session was the distinction between disinformation and misinformation. While disinformation means false information shared deliberately to mislead people, misinformation means false information shared unknowingly, often due to ignorance or negligence.
On both concepts, Mr. Matthew elaborated that they spread rapidly through social media, blogs, and even traditional news platforms. From political promises and public speeches to viral photos, statistics, and news headlines, participants were reminded that not everything seen online should be swallowed hook, line and sinker as they can be unreal. He gave examples like recycled protest photos presented as recent events and exaggerated claims about economic figures.
Furthermore, the facilitator laid out five principles every fact-checker should uphold which are accuracy, transparency, neutrality, timeliness, and accountability. Participants were also introduced to powerful digital tools: Google Reverse Image Search, TinEye, Botometer, Whois Lookup, EASYDMARC, e.Veritas, Scamadviser, and YouTube Data Viewer among others.
To practice what they were taught, participants analysed a suspicious link, ‘ndcc.payment.inspireyouth.live.’ After using different verification tools, they discovered that the NDCC is a legitimate agency but the link was unsafe. Verification tools like EASYDMARC and Scamadviser flagged it as risky, urging users to avoid it.
An interactive Q&A session was later held. Participants asked whether the tools are reliable, and whether any payment was required to fact-check WhatsApp messages. The facilitator clarified that all tools mentioned were free, trusted and widely used while stressing that WhatsApp texts must be verified based on the particular nature of the claims they carry.
Closing the session at 6:59 PM, Matthew Ogunwale laid emphasis on the critical role fact-checking plays in promoting truth, credibility, and accountability in today’s digital space.