Across social media, posts are flying up faster than most fact-checkers and moderators can handle.
Here are some basic tools everyone should use when consuming breaking news online. wapo.st/3Hj92AE
Social media is built for things to go viral.
No matter how devastating, enlightening or enraging a TikTok, tweet or YouTube video is, you should wait before passing it on to your own network. wapo.st/3Hj92AE
Look at who is sharing the information.
If it’s from friends or family members, don’t trust the posts unless they are personally on the ground or a confirmed expert. wapo.st/3Hj92AE
Legitimate mainstream news organizations are built to vet these things for you, and often do report on the same videos or photos taken by real people after they’ve confirmed their origin. wapo.st/3Hj92AE
Even if you only see real posts, it can still be confusing or misleading.
Try to augment all these one-off clips or stories with broader context about what is happening. wapo.st/3Hj92AE
Keep an eye out for content warnings on social media sites for individual posts, which can appear as labels below links.
Look up individual stories or images on fact-checking sites like The Washington Post’s Fact Checker, Snopes and PolitiFact. wapo.st/3Hj92AE
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.