David Mikkelson @ Snopes: The Disney Lover Who Fact-Checks the Internet

<p>In recent years, the term “fake news” has become a common phrase. It’s a shorthand way of describing informational content related to current events that’s intentionally misleading. While the term itself is relatively new, the concept is much older than most people realize.</p><p><br></p><p>The earliest recorded example of fake news goes all the way back to the 13th Century BC when Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II convinced his population that his army clobbered the neighboring Hittites despite signing a peace treaty with them that essentially declared a draw.</p><p><br></p><p>Fast forward a few dozen centuries all the way to the 1980s. The World Wide Web hadn’t even been invented yet, but misinformation was already spreading on the Internet. However, it wasn’t misinformation about things as important as wars and government. It was actually just misinformation about the Walt Disney Company. And a man named David Mikkelson wanted to debunk it.</p><p>Over the ensuing decades, David kept debunking more and more rumors and online myths until his website, Snopes.com, became one of the most trusted fact-checking resources in the world. On this episode of Web Masters, you'll hear the full story of how David went from researching urban legends for a few die-hard Disney fans to debunking fake new.</p><p>For a complete transcript of the episode, <a href="https://latonas.com/blog/web-masters-episode-25-david-mikkelson/">click here</a>.</p>