With the approach of a weather event as destructive and far-reaching as Hurricane Sandy threatens to be, a lot of storm-related photos and video are being uploaded to the web.
But with the storm still hours away from making landfall on the East Coast, we're noticing some obviously doctored images that tell a false tale of Sandy's effect. What's worse is that these images are getting hundreds of retweets and shares.
It is an act that may seem harmless at face value, but sharing misleading photos can misinform people who are already vulnerable to danger.
This post is intended to help you identify inaccurate, outdated or doctored images and video which purport to show the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Please view the photos collected below and help us find more by tweeting #FakeSandy along with the photo link to @GuardianUS, or by leaving the link in the comments below. But first, a quick guide to sharing photos during an event like this:
How to make sure you're not sharing fake images:
* If an image looks suspect (and, really, even if it doesn't), check the photo against a Google search. For examples, if someone tweets a photo with "the James River bridge is completely underwater," perform a Google image search for the bridge and check to make sure an old photo is not being used. Google Image search also will allow you to search by the image URL and pull up the image history.
* Check webcams. Here is a useful, comprehensive list of East Coast webcams by Quartz.
* Check the user's share history. This can mean a Twitter timeline, an Instagram stream or a Facebook friend network. Often, the author of a doctored photo will spam multiple people at once with the image link – it's usually a giveaway.
