Need for fact-checking: Not everything we see online is correct

The other day, I was scrolling through Twitter and chanced upon a video post. It showed an elderly couple dancing. The text in the post said, “He is 94, and she is 91 — they still have the moves!! Just awesome.”

I watched the video. The performance was indeed awesome: amazing, dexterous moves by an elderly couple. I couldn’t resist watching it again.

He is 94 and she is 91 - they still have the moves!! Just awesome.👍👌
VC: SM pic.twitter.com/XZXDCpjhaR

— Awanish Sharan (@AwanishSharan) July 4, 2020

I was tempted to retweet the post. But I checked myself after seeing the age of the couple mentioned in the tweet. Also, I wanted to know something more about this wonderful pair, before I shared the clip. 

CHECKING YOUTUBE

I went to YouTube to see if it had the video and if I could get any details.

Since I didn’t know their names, I wondered what I should search for. I began typing out “he is 9...” and immediately, many suggestions came up. 

I clicked on “he is 94, and she’s 91,” and seven videos matched the search. All of them are the same videos but with different headings.

Though there were not many details, I got the name of the couple - Dietmar and Nellia.

There are many more videos if you give a search with the couple’s names.

CHECKING WEBSITES

Now I opened a web browser to search the Internet for some information about them.

A few websites matched my search. I clicked on two of them: Seeitlive.co and mirror.co.uk.

See It Live in the article on April 29, 2019, said this about the couple: 

They are Nellia and Dietmar Ehrentraut, and they are 66 and 72 years old, respectively. They’ve been married to one another since 1970—and they both love to dance. Although they’re not necessarily a household name, the Ehrentrauts are pretty well-known in the dance community as passionate and daring dancers, no matter how old they get!

The article gives the sources of information, including the website of the couple. 

This is what the Mirror carried in its article on the couple on April 3, 2017:

An elderly Austrian couple have shot to online fame after their barnstorming routine in a veterans dance contest. 

Footage of Dietmar Ehrentraut, 70, and his wife Nellia, 64, energetically boogieing in Bavaria has been viewed more than 62 million times.

The young-at-heart pair, who live in the tranquil town of Durmersheim in Baden-Wuerttemberg but were born in Austria, have been dancing together for decades.

And a few weeks ago their moves were caught on camera by impressed audience member during a veterans dance competition in Bavaria.

See It Live is part of Shareably Media Network, which was founded in 2015 by a team of UC Berkeley graduates and is located in Los Angeles, California. See It Live shares “the best entertainment content from around the world with you”.

The Mirror is one of Britain’s well-known media organisations.

Nellia and Dietmar Ehrentraut are definitely not 94 and 91.

WHY I AM FOCUSSED ON THE AGE

I am not trying to be a spoilsport here. Nor am I belittling the awe-inspiring performance of the elderly couple, who, I now realise, are incredibly gifted, and they conduct training sessions. 

I think the wrong age must be called out not only because it’s factually incorrect but also because we tend to associate the couple’s impeccable performance with that age, which is wrong. 

Let’s be wary of “clickbait” information unless it’s on a well-established media organisation’s website or it’s been put out by a credible person or institution.

Let’s not share anything unless we are sure about its veracity.