Last month, an image of Emma González, an 18-year-old survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, and one of the most recognizable faces that has emerged in the youth-led campaign for gun control in the U.S., began circulating on social media. The picture—also disseminated as a GIF—showed Gonzalez, dressed in a short-sleeve black turtleneck with a stern look on her face, against a tangerine backdrop as she ripped in half what appeared to be a copy of the U.S. Constitution.

Screen-grabbed from a video produced by Teen Vogue as part of its digital cover feature for March, which spotlighted young gun-reform activists ahead of March for Our Lives demonstrations taking place around the world, the photograph and corresponding GIFs were quickly determined to be doctored. (The original image portrays González tearing apart a paper shooting target, not the U.S. Constitution.) Nevertheless, tweets sharing the picture from supposed alt-right and pro–NRA accounts reached upwards of 50,000 likes and retweets in some cases, prompting users on the social-media platform to urge Twitter bosses to take action and prevent such “fake news” from spreading.

This Photoshopped image is but one dot on the spectrum of “fake news”, a buzzword unfortunately popularized by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016 that, according to local media educator Tash King, may encompass anything from untrue stories deliberately crafted by unverified news sources to literally any text that a reader does not agree with. And though, today, the term is employed more freely in our lexicon than ever before—a Google search of the words “fake news” yields more than 2.5 million results—the concept is nothing new.

“This kind of false information has always existed,” King, who mentions propaganda as one of the earliest examples of fake news, tells the Straight by phone, “but with the Internet, our technologies just make it easier to make things look real.”

The Internet also makes it quicker to distribute such incorrect—and, at times, intentionally inflammatory—articles, quotes, and other data, presenting major challenges for users wading through an already crowded information superhighway. In addition, King says the thousands of blogs and news publications now available at our fingertips makes it difficult to ascertain which ones are reliable and which are not. At its least harmful, then, fake news is an unwelcome presence on Internet searches and newsfeeds that may lead to misunderstandings and embarrassing errors in public dialogue. At its worst—say, when it’s wielded by political leaders as a disparaging remark to attack writers, photographers, and reporters—it compromises democracy and undermines the legitimacy of credible and sound journalism.

“A lot of educators are really concerned, because the fear derived from fake news reflects bigger fears about the state of critical thinking among young people and older folks as well,” notes King.

To help citizens—especially youth, a cohort that spends significant time consuming media in the forms of tweets, television, Facebook posts, news stories, and so on—better comprehend what constitutes fake news, King will be conducting a workshop titled Digital Literacy: The Power of Speech on Thursday (April 12) as part of this year’s Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth. There, the writer and sociologist will walk attendees through the process of unpacking false information, which includes items like sponsored content and native advertising, and the ways in which they can differentiate between “real” and fake news.

“We come to a lot of our news media via social media,” King explains, “so as things like advertising become more embedded, or as clickbait becomes more dramatic, or as fake news becomes more embedded in our social media: if young people have the skills to figure out these things now, they’re going to carry them through the rest of their lives and be able to figure out if something is real or fake.”

They’ll also learn about the importance of freedom of expression and the role it plays in democracy and our understanding of other people. Guests may even leave with a newfound appreciation for the much maligned buzzword. “My hope is quite positive, which is that this whole eruption of interest in fake news is actually making people more wary of the information they read, and more inclined to fact-check and think critically about the information they come across online,” states King.

The Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth presents Digital Literacy: The Power of Speech on Thursday (April 12), from 10 to 11 a.m., at Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street). For details, click here.