From furniture store conspiracies to fake psychology, misinformation is everywhere, especially on the internet. Maybe you’ve even shared something you’ve learned from TikTok or Instagram with your friends, only to later learn you shared information that wasn’t true at all.
We don’t always engage in critical thinking while we’re browsing social media. Most of the time, we’re just trying to relax and have some fun during our free time, so we disengage our brains and don’t think too deeply about what we’re seeing. Unfortunately, that’s exactly when we’re most likely to fall into the trap of believing false information.
To help you out, we put together are 4 ways to identify misinformation on social media:
Don’t believe everything you see online
As George Washington once famously said, “It’s easy to lie on the internet.”
Just kidding! George Washington never said anything about the internet. That was probably an easy lie to spot, since the internet was invented almost 200 years after Washington’s death, but most lies aren’t so obvious.
If you see a video or social media post with information you’ve never heard before, be cautious, especially if there’s no source or the information is provided by someone without credibility. Be on the lookout for people using vague language like “I found out…” or “I learned…” without actually stating where they learned it.
When in doubt, ask for a source!
Check the source
Unfortunately, sources can’t always be trusted. It’s easier than ever to make professional-looking websites, and anyone can put anything they want online. This means even after finding a source, your job isn’t quite done yet.
Find the author of the article or website, and look them up to see if they’re credible. Even reputable news sites publish op-eds, guest essays, and satirical articles, so it’s important to understand the context of what you’re reading. Try to find multiple sources that support the same information.
You should also be aware of satirical websites like The Onion, Reductress, ClickHole, and more. The last thing you want to do is mistakenly share an article from one of these websites and present it as fact.
Check out this article from The Onion as an example:
Also, don’t settle for screenshots — go straight to the source. Not only will the source provide vital context (like whether or not the piece is satirical), but screenshots can be easily manipulated. For instance, do you think Taylor Swift really tweeted this?
It may look like a real tweet, but it was actually made using a fake tweet generator, and it only took a few minutes! Anyone with a computer can make a celebrity say anything they want.
Question the motives
Ask yourself what the person sharing the information is trying to accomplish. Are they trying to convince you of their own viewpoint? Sell you something? Go viral?
For example, check out this article from BuzzFeed:
This article was sponsored by Target, and BuzzFeed may even collect a share of the sales from the links on the page (called affiliate links). Basically, Target paid BuzzFeed to write this article. Does that mean the author secretly hates her Target sheets? Probably not, but knowing it’s a paid partnership is important to helping you evaluate the information.
Another aspect to consider is bias. Everyone has a unique point of view — there’s no getting around it, and that’s okay — but you should recognize how someone’s perspective might color the way they present information to you. Is there anything being left out that would detract from the point they’re trying to make? This is another reason you should always try to find multiple sources.
Go beyond the headline
Content creators want you to see and react to their content, which means information is often presented as sensationally as possible. Even if the headline is technically correct, it may be misleading.
Take a look at this headline from CBS News:
The article goes on to explain that while a woman did die after receiving the first dose of the COVID vaccine, no link was found between the vaccine and her death.
Remember: The only way to know the full story is to read the full story.
In today’s digital age, identifying misinformation on social media is essential for staying informed. By staying cautious, checking sources, and critically evaluating the content you see on the internet, you can help maintain a truthful and reliable online community! 📱✨
