How to Stop the Spread of Misinformation Online

Co-authored by The Verified Initiative of the United Nations

With so much false or misleading information out there on the internet, you may be asking yourself what you can do about it. The good news is there’s actually a lot you can do to help stop the spread of misinformation. Most importantly, you can make sure anything you share online is accurate and true so there’s less bad info out there. It’s also important that you turn a critical eye on the information that you come across to practice good information hygiene. That way, the info you share doesn’t stink!

1Respond to the misinformation to alert other people. If you find credible evidence that a post or claim isn’t true, let people know. Reply to the info and explain how it’s false or misleading to prevent people from believing and spreading it around.^[1]

• If you have links to articles that discredit the information, add them to your reply as well.
• Respond in a polite, courteous way. If a friend or family member shared something inaccurate, send them a private message instead of putting them on blast in the comments.

2Report misinformation so it can be removed. Inaccurate or misleading information spreads quickly online and can make it difficult for people to know who or what to believe. Help stop the spread of misinformation by reporting it to the site that you see it on so it can be flagged and removed so others won’t see it.^[2]

• The WHO has a page dedicated to helping you report misinformation on social media platforms. You can find it here: https://www.who.int/campaigns/connecting-the-world-to-combat-coronavirus/how-to-report-misinformation-online.
• You can make a difference. Taking a moment to report bad info can make a significant impact and help prevent it from getting shared around.

3Avoid sharing information if you can’t confirm it’s accurate. Always investigate information before you share it around so you can make sure it’s accurate. If it’s false or you can’t verify it, don’t share it! You can stop the spread of misinformation by stopping it dead in its tracks and refusing to share it.^[3]

• Even if the information is meant to be as a joke, it can be taken seriously. For example, there was a phony report that said that lions were being used to patrol streets in Russia and people believed it to be true, even though it was meant to be a joke.^[4]

1See if the source of the information is reputable. Whenever you come across new or questionable info, take a look at the source it’s coming from before you hit the share button. Look up the info at the source to make sure it was actually published there.^[5]

• Be skeptical of memes or claims that attribute the information to a source and take a look at the source itself.