Four top tips for avoiding fake news from a Wikipedia editor

The spread of so-called fake news on social media has become one of the talking points of 2016, with everyone from Pope Francis to Mark Zuckerberg warning about the trend. Critics say the spread of misinformation, hoaxes and biased pieces presented as news has led to the rise in popularity of fringe and sometimes extreme political views.

Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has also spoken out against the trend, calling it a "danger that must be addressed."

Her rival in the election, and now President-elect, Donald Trump was the subject of a number of fake news stories, which some believe helped boost his popularity.

Facebook and Google have pledged to do more to crack down on fake news with more effective detection systems and third-party verification services. But what can you do to spot misinformation as a reader?

IBTimes UK spoke to Wikipedia editor and Wikimedia UK communications coordinator John Lubbock about fake news, and what his top tips are for spotting it online. He said: "Whether you believe the information is true or not, if it is something that completely disagrees with your world view or it if it is something that complete agrees with it, I would say in both instances it is important to go and check whether the facts line up."

He added: "It is frustrating when people are wasting their time on these things, when people are exploiting people's gullibility to make money."