Do you know how to identify political disinformation content? It's time to learn

“If a lie is taken seriously for just one hour, then it has done its job,” said comedian Jonathan Swift. He was referring to politics in 1710, but things have not changed: today's voters continue to be bombarded with misinformation, created with the purpose of deceiving and misleading. How, then, to identify fake content?

It all comes down to four words: stop, investigate, search and track. This method was created by educator Mike Caulfield to help students in the digital age, but it's also a great way to evaluate the political articles you read. There are four simple steps:

1. Stop: Please do not immediately repost anything or comment. Stop for a second and reflect.

2. Investigate the source: analyze where the information comes from, why it was published and who benefits from it.

3. Look for other sources: every news outlet seeks to get a scoop, but facts get out. If something is credible, other sources will start reporting it, so look at other sites to see if the same information is being reported. There are many fact-checking services. Also evaluate the timeliness, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose of the source.

4. Trace the original source. Extreme claims require complete proof, so find the source of the information. If it's an image, use a reverse image search engine like Google Images to find out if it's been used elsewhere or misattributed. If it's a quote from a speech, type the excerpt into Google or Bing to see if you can find the video of the original speech. For a headline or news story, go directly to the source and find the article.

If the information that has reached you does not pass any of these simple tests, it is a warning sign. If the source is unreliable, no one else is reporting it, or the original content is unavailable, it may have been misinformation published in a genuine error or an attempt to disrupt political discussions.

FLOODING THE NETWORK WITH BS

By all means, if you can't investigate, find or trace the source, don't repost. The strategy of those who use disinformation is, to quote one practitioner, “flooding the internet with nonsense”, creating so much confusing and misleading information that the reader cannot distinguish the truth from the lies and gives up. Publishing this false content, or even commenting on it, only helps to increase the amount of dirt we are dealing with.

Extreme claims require complete proof, so find the source of the information.

Winston Churchill once said that “a lie can go halfway around the world before the truth puts on its britches.” Except he wouldn't say exactly that: as an upper-class Brit, Churchill would have said trousers rather than breeches.

This quote has been falsely presented as a Chinese proverb and attributed to writers such as Mark Twain and Churchill, but once again the origin appears to lie with Swift, who said in 1710 that “falsehood flies, and truth limps after it, so that when men allow themselves to be deceived, it is too late; the game is over, and the story has had its effect.”

Always try to apply the credibility test: investigate, look for other sources and track the original before clicking the comment or repost button.

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Richard Baguley is an editor and writer focused on technology. find out more

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