Civil Unity: The Radical Path to Transform Our Discourse, Our Lives, and Our World by Shola Richards

Author:Shola Richards [Richards, Shola]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Forbes Books
Published: 2024-09-24T07:00:00+00:00

Outsmarting Misinformation and Disinformation

Thankfully, as powerful as misinformation and disinformation can be, they can both be beaten with proper due diligence and thoughtfulness. Here are a few simple ways to stay a step ahead of fake news.

Verify, Verify, Verify!

Before sharing anything on your social media channels, pause for a moment, and ask yourself some simple verification questions. What is the originating source of the content? Is it a reputable source of news? If it’s coming from an individual’s account, is that person an expert, or at least, credible? If you are unsure, go through their previous posts and articles and see the type of content that they’re posting. If any of it is making you raise an eyebrow and think “I’m not sure this person/source is legit,” then don’t amplify the damage done by the mis/disinformation by sharing it any further. This cannot be said enough: Just because a piece of content aligns with your political and social views doesn’t mean that it’s true.

Also, use independent, nonpartisan fact-checking websites like Politifact.com, FactCheck.org, or Snopes.com to verify whether the claims being made are true. Equally as important, if it’s clear that someone in your network is spreading misinformation or disinformation, use the verified information from the fact-checking websites to debunk their claims in real time. There’s no guarantee that doing so will change any hearts and minds, but even if it gets someone to think twice before sharing the content with their network, then you have officially made the world a better place through your actions.

Last thing on this—if you have made the mistake of sharing something, only to later verify that what you shared is untrue, please don’t just delete the post and pretend that nothing happened. Own your mistake, publicly state why the post you shared was untrue, and hopefully your actions will serve as an example of how to deal with this effectively.

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