Immigrants eating pets, hurricanes intentionally created by “weather modification” systems, and election ballots sent to noncitizen voters to invite “foreign interference.” These are all examples of outrageous claims found online.
“There is nonstop misinformation from all sides, everywhere, 24/7,” says Eugene Kiely, executive director of FactCheck.org. “Misinformation used to be more cyclical and tied to elections, but there is no lull in misinformation now.”
Some states have enacted laws that require public school students to learn media literacy and the skills needed to identify credible information, but as social media evolves and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in generating misinformation increases, it can feel daunting.
To help students wade through the flood of information, Kiely suggests that educators ask them to fact check it just as they do at FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in news, particularly politics and science.
Social Media, Click Bait, and Confirmation Bias
As more young people turn to social media for news—Pew Research found 39 percent of adults under 30 get their news from TikTok—teaching them to check the source is key to helping them identify credible information.
Is it from a well-established organization? If not, better to check it. Do a Google search on the topic and see what comes up, Kiely advises.
“Do some digging,” he says. “If it’s provocative and outrageous, what’s known as ‘click bait,’ you should check the author or publisher.”
It is also important to learn about confirmation biases. If you tend to believe something about an issue or person, you tend to have more faith in information that backs up your belief.
For example, many people were angry about the disinformation about Haitian immigrants eating pets and the huge backlash the community of Springfield, Ohio, suffered as a result. That disinformation was spread by many, including vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance.
When information circulated about Vance renting a dog to make himself look pet friendly, many passed that on to their friends. However, a thorough Google search would have shown that he actually has a German Shepherd named Atlas.
Google Fact Check Explorer is a tool educators and students can use to find debunked news reports. Simply type in the claim or rumor and see if it has been fact checked.
“Ignorance is not what we should be teaching our students,” Kiely says. “They need to be taught what happens when lies take hold—they need to understand the lessons about what happens when large groups of people believe disinformation, such as the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Another tool available to educators and students is Rumor Guard, which dispels viral rumors with the facts. Was Disney World really flooded? Rumor Guard shows that a widely posted image of floodwaters surrounding the Cinderella Castle was AI-generated and that the claim is false. Was a KKK member at a Connecticut Trump rally? Rumor Guard shows that it was a social media troll wearing a costume.
