Before sharing a surprising or upsetting post, pause and check the claim behind it. Find its original source, follow the evidence, check the date and context, and look for independent confirmation. If the evidence does not settle the question, treat the claim as unverified rather than sharing it as fact.
What to check before you share a claim
- Write down the specific claim. Separate a checkable statement from a reaction, prediction, or opinion. A post may mix all three; verify the factual part rather than accepting the whole package.
- Identify where it came from. Find the original author, organization, or document behind the post. Consider whether the source has relevant expertise and whether it may have a financial or partisan interest. Credentials and reputation are clues, not proof that a particular claim is correct.
- Follow the evidence to its source. Open links to the original study, report, dataset, or official document where possible. Check whether it actually supports the post’s wording, whether important qualifications were omitted, and whether it is current and in the right context. A citation or scholarly-looking link is not evidence until you check what it says.
- Look for independent confirmation. Check whether other credible outlets or relevant experts report the same development. Distinguish factual reporting from commentary or inference. Several posts or articles repeating the same original source are not several independent confirmations.
- Check the date and context. An accurate statement or image from an earlier event can mislead when presented as new or from a different place. Verify when and where the material originated, not just whether it exists.
- Decide what the evidence allows you to say. If reliable evidence is missing or the claim is still developing, wait or describe it as unverified. The absence of a debunk does not confirm a claim.
FactCheck.org quotes MIT professor David Rand advising people: “Don’t hit reshare until you stop and think to yourself, ‘Am I reasonably sure that this is accurate … does this seem plausible?’” FactCheck.org attributes the comment to Rand speaking with PBS NewsHour.
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How to check a photo or video
Use a reverse-image search to look for earlier appearances of an image. An older match may reveal that it has been recycled or given a misleading caption, but a match alone does not establish the image’s full origin or prove what it depicts. No search result is inconclusive: search indexes are incomplete, so no match does not show that an image is new or authentic.
Check the accompanying date, location, and event against other evidence. Metadata may be missing or altered, and social platforms may strip it, so treat it as one clue rather than proof. Apply the same caution to video: a real recording can still be presented with the wrong date or context.
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When sources disagree, compare the evidence—not the popularity
Compare what each source is actually claiming, where its information came from, and whether the underlying evidence supports its exact wording. Check when that evidence was produced and whether the sources reporting it are independent. A factual report, an interpretation, and a prediction are different kinds of statements and should not be treated as interchangeable.
Likes, shares, and a message from someone you trust can help explain why a claim reached you; none verifies it. UNESCO’s 2024 survey found that 42% of the digital content creators it surveyed said they used likes and shares as a main indicator of credibility. That figure describes those surveyed creators, not all social-media users.
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Misinformation, disinformation, and what you can know
Misinformation is commonly used for false information shared without deliberate intent to mislead; disinformation refers to false information shared deliberately. Definitions vary, and falsity alone does not reveal a person’s intent. You can assess whether a claim is supported without claiming to know why its author shared it.
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Why a pause matters
UNESCO reported in 2024 that 62% of surveyed digital content creators did not carry out rigorous and systematic fact-checking before sharing, while 73% wanted fact-checking training. These findings concern the creators in UNESCO’s survey, not the general population. They are a reminder that sharing quickly is common even among people who publish content; a quick pause and evidence check can prevent an unsupported claim from traveling further.
Quick Recap
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