How to avoid sharing election misinformation

THE 2024 election season is upon us. Although Election Day is November 5, early voting began in September on some states. While we wait for the final results to be declared, you are likely to come across false or misleading information.

To prevent the spread of misinformation this election season, here are four things to consider.

We won’t know the full picture on the night of November 5th

Election rules and procedures vary from state to state. Within a state, they can even vary between counties. Some states allow ballots received in the mail before Election Day to be processed early. Others leave the processing and counting of mailed ballots until after the polls close on election day.

This means the results could change drastically throughout election night depending on which votes are counted first. This happened in 2020 when states where then-President Donald Trump appeared to be leading flipped in Joe Biden’s favor late in the evening.

If you react strongly to new information, take a break

It’s normal to have an emotional response to information you find online or in the news. But if the information you’ve just received triggers a particularly strong emotion in you, that could be a signal to hit the brakes, said Rachel Moran of Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington. “Much misleading information is created intentionally to sow confusion or to create an emotional reaction. So if this is happening to you, it doesn’t necessarily mean what you read is wrong, but it’s a good tip to slow down,” she said.

We want to see our beliefs reflected back to us, so it’s easy to agree with something if it reinforces our worldview — even if it’s not true, said Hannah Covington, senior director of educational content at Journalistic literacy project. “When you see information that you automatically agree with, that’s actually a signal to pause and maybe do some quick research.”

Consider how reliable your source of information is

Open your preferred search engine and do a quick keyword search to see what other credible sources are saying about the information you are evaluating. “If you don’t see something reported by multiple media outlets, then it’s probably time to just wait (before sharing),” Covington said.

When considering whether a news source is trustworthy, look for how it handles errors in your reports. Trusting a source that makes mistakes may seem counterintuitive, “but correcting information when there is an inaccuracy is a huge sign of credibility,” Covington told NPR.

Be careful with information that has been translated from another language. A good translator requires knowledge of the language and culture to be able to discern whether the original message is intended to be satirical or ironic, said Laura Zommer, co-founder and CEO of Fact checked.

If you receive a message on WhatsApp marked as “forwarded” or “forwarded many times,” “be especially cautious as this indicates that the author of the content is unclear and not the person who sent (you) the message,” Zommer told NPR in an email.

Be careful about what photos and videos are supposed to “prove”

Take care when evaluating images, video and audio. They are easily manipulated or taken out of context. Take this 2020 Tweet alleging voter suppression, allegedly evidenced by a photo of a stack of mailboxes. It says: “Photo taken in Wisconsin. This is happening right before our eyes. They are sabotaging the USPS to sabotage voting by mail. This is massive voter suppression and part of their plan to steal the election.”

UCLA law professor Richard L. Hasen investigated the claim in his 2022 book, Cheap speech: how misinformation poisons our politics – and how to cure it. It turns out that while the photo was real, the claim of voter suppression was not. The mailboxes were pictured outside a company that had a contract to repair old mailboxes for the U.S. Postal Service, not to dispose of them.

These days, Moran said, “the old adage… ‘seeing is believing’ simply isn’t true anymore.” When you come across online media, it’s worth asking: “Is this what I’m hearing or seeing Generated AI? Or could it be real and misleadingly edited?”

Ultimately, “it’s up to us to protect ourselves and our communities (from misinformation) by only sharing what is verified,” Covington said.

NPR’s Brett Neely contributed reporting to this story.

NPR’s Brett Neely contributed reporting to this story.

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