Last week, we joined the rest of the world in celebrating the Unesco Global Media and Information Literacy Week—a celebration aimed at promoting the theme “Resisting Disinfodemic: Media and Information Literacy for everyone and, by everyone.”
Covid-19 isn’t the only pandemic we’re contending with during these perilous times. We also find ourselves having to deal with a veritable epidemic of disinformation—false or misleading information created and spread deliberately, in order to sway public opinion.
Studies have shown that one of the leading ways of spreading disinformation is by, well, spreading it. In 2018, for instance, a study entitled “The Spread of True and False News Online” concluded that “while bots spread a lot of fake news, the majority of fake news re-transmissions is committed by real people.”
The lesson is clear: when we share posts on social media containing false or misleading information, we are being part of the problem of disinformation. It’s almost as bad as coughing or sneezing without a mask in a crowded elevator. And the problem isn’t limited to the active sharing or passing on of shady posts. Because of how social media algorithms work, and indeed because of basic human behavior, simply liking a false and misleading post—clicking on that heart icon or giving it a thumbs-up—actually supercharges its distribution.
Liking a post tells the algorithm that the post is popular, which makes it rise to the top of both the search engine results and everyone’s news feeds; more than that, however, studies have shown that humans are hardwired to respond favorably to posts that are popular with others, thereby increasing the possibility of the post being shared or passed on. Either way—via algorithm or human behavior—the net result is the same: you have facilitated the propagation of disinformation.
This is what the purveyors of disinformation are eager to capitalize on, especially during election season. And since Covid-19 has made social media the principal means of communicating with voters, you can bet that disinformation posts will proliferate in the coming weeks and months, multiplying and spreading like mushrooms in the shade.
So, in celebration—albeit belatedly for this column—of the Unesco Global Media and Information Literacy week, allow me to share with you some practical tips that will help ensure that you don’t just Vote Wisely, you Share Wisely too.
First, don’t be gullible. Not everything you read online can be trusted; just because it’s blowing your timeline up or overheating your newsfeed doesn’t necessarily make it true. Use your own judgment before you accept information from the Internet as accurate and reliable, and try as much as possible to emotionally distance yourself from the information.
Studies have shown that people are more likely to spread bogus stories that agree with their own opinions, about topics they are passionate about.
Second, always verify the sources cited. If you can’t—either because the story carries no citations or links to an unrelated or unavailable site—then run a quick search. If no other news source carries it, then the probability is high that you are looking at fakery. Take the time to look at the URLs too. Fake news sites often have URLs that, at first glance, mimic legitimate URLs.
Clean your own timeline up. Don’t let disinformation live in your timeline or newsfeed. You can ask the person who posted it to remove, for example. Just don’t go about it looking for a fight.
Fourth, take advantage of the reporting mechanisms offered by the social media platform you’re on. When I reported a fake page masquerading as me, the social network had me jump through hoops to prove my identity but eventually took down the impostor. It’s important that you don’t give up on the process.
And finally, maybe you can seriously consider not sharing the post at all. Don’t give the false and misleading post any oxygen, as they say, and at the very least make sure that its propagation stops with you.
The Global Media and Information and Literacy Week may have already ended, but the urgency for developing media and information literacy among the general public only grows with each piece of fake news unleashed on the Internet, with each shared bogus article, and with each forwarded outlandish claim. Sadly, it seems likely that things will get worse before they get better. We can only do our part in curbing this menace. Vote Wisely, of course, but long before election day even dawns, Share Wisely too.