Misinformation and disinformation are everywhere, and artificial intelligence is making it more difficult to spot.
Confirming that something you see on social media is true before you share it, takes time. But every time you do, you help suck the life out of the lies, fake news, partial truths and the disinformation that weakens our community.
REPORT IT
Every social media platform has community guidelines that generally prohibit spreading false information. How each platform defines “false information” and what they will do about it varies.
That shouldn’t stop you from at least trying to use the platform’s “report” feature to let them know you know it’s false. And don’t feel defeated if the platform doesn’t respond the way you think it should. Last month Emergent Justice reported a fake account and at first, we were told it didn’t violate their community guidelines. Ten days later we received an update to let us know the account had been removed for being fake.
REPLACE, DON’T REPEAT
Assuming you can’t just ignore the situation, then make sure you don’t give the disinformation power by repeating it.
Your instinct might be to say, “Hey blah, blah blah (the disinformation) isn’t true.” But every time you repeat the disinformation/misinformation online, a couple of things happen:
- you add another data spot (our term, not the technical term) on the internet that has the potential to show up when Google or other search engines scroll the internet in search of an answer to a question.
- research suggests that a person only needs to read or hear something 5 – 7 times to move it from short term memory to long term memory. So repeating information as you are trying to prove it is wrong, actually gives it more life.
Just speak the truth, share the facts, and move on.
IGNORE IT
This is rule #1 for dealing with trolls. It also applies to online spaces that you can just ignore.
When you don’t give the energy of your attention to something, you don’t give it power. It may be difficult, but ask yourself if you really need to comment or if the best thing is to just keep scrolling.
When you take action against disinformation, you protect yourself by becoming a smarter information user and a more responsible part of the online community.
When you take action against misinformation, you protect your real-life community by helping them understand what’s real so that they can make smarter choices.
You don’t have to be a Superhero to fight disinformation!
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