Many people chuckled in amazement at the presidential debate when one candidate repeated a couple of conspiracy theories considered by most experts to be “really out there.” But in this time of artificial intelligence, deep fakes, hired “trolls,” and news media being directed by adversarial foreign governments, what are some steps to take to avoid sharing misinformation?

I decided that one of my guiding principles for this campaign season was not sharing information unless I had verified it as true. Here are the steps I go through:

1. Treat with respectful suspicion anything coming from social media. That includes TikTok, which is great for teaching and learning, but still requires checking sources. How might I check a source? First, I listen (or read) for specific identifying information that I can then use to search news articles. An example is a video recently shared purporting to support the hoax about immigrants eating pets. In the video, a woman is being arrested. They said her name, so I was then able to go to news.google.com to search for aggregated news stories. (It helps if you put the name or term in quotation marks.) I found numerous news stories, including ones that identified the incorrect rumors.
   
2. Determine: is this factually true, untrue, or an opinion piece? Opinion pieces can present thoughtful ideas that stir up my own mind. But sometimes, it is easy to conflate opinion, especially if it is drawing conclusions or assuming motivations, with fact.
   
3. Determine: is this true, or a humor/satire piece? Because rumors and hoaxes have been so rampant for the last 8 years — and because we have seen some factually true but hard to believe things — it can be easy to mistake satire for actual news.
   
4. Determine: my own mindset. Do I WANT this to be true? When I can identify that I have feelings in the matter, I set the bar a little higher to make sure it’s true, knowing that I am coming in predisposed to be biased.
   
5. If I wonder about if something is true, I’ll often search for more information by putting the subject matter in quotation marks, and then the word “hoax.” This is often a swift way to debunk misinformation.
   
6. Search known and respected fact-checking websites for information on the story: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=620677&p=4333407

The internet has made it so easy for lies to spring up, and we have politicians willing to double-down on those lies. I think one of the most powerful and ethical things we can do is to make sure we are only sharing verifiably true stories.