Disinformation (deliberate & intentional misinformation) online and in other media, is not limited to the United States. It is a worldwide problem, faced in every Country. Some have called Disinformation “Online Terrorism.”
To protect ourselves and our families it is very important that we all learn to be Smart readers & viewers of Online Media and all Media, and not share anything on Social Media that we have not fact-checked and verified to be true.
Here are Four Tips from MediaSmarts, Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy, on How to tell if something you see online is true:
YouTube Video by MediaSmarts
Here is more on MediaSmarts’ Four Tips:
“Four ways to tell if something is true online”
- “Use fact-checking tools
See if a fact-checker like Snopes.com has debunked the story.”
Or, you can use MediaSmarts’ custom search engine: bit.ly/fact-search : - Find the source
Click on the link in a social media post to take you to the original story, so you can see if it comes from a trusted source.
- Verify the source
Check Google or Wikipedia to see if the source is real and whether they have a good track record.
- Check other sources
Do a search to see if other news outlets are reporting the same story.”
Click here for more from MediaSmarts on how to tell what’s true online »
