'How do I get my relative to stop sharing stuff that’s clearly untrue?' and other tips

The murky world of misinformation has been grabbing more headlines in 2020, and if you’ve been too busy/panicked/overwhelmed to tune in and learn more about it, believe me, I get it.

So here’s a short & simple guide to get you caught up on what we’ve been learning in our Stand with the Facts virtual series on KUOW so far, ahead of our fall episodes which will look at election security and fairness, and communities targeted for misinformation ahead of the presidential election.

If you missed it, here are our top 5 takeaways:

1There’s a difference between misinformation and disinformation. And it matters.

Misinformation is the big bucket, which includes all information that’s wrong – from innocuous errors like a mislabeled graph, to more insidious and untrue rumors of antifa agitators coming to demonstrate in your small town.

Disinformation is the smaller bucket you should really be on alert for. It’s the intentional manipulation of information to exert influence over you, often with false or deliberately misleading info-nuggets to introduce confusion, reinforce stereotypes, or inflame fears. There are tools to help you fight it. Check out what the UW’s Center for an Informed Public’s Jevin West told us to be on the lookout for:

2Look deeper into the source of the information you see online – it may not be who you think it is.

An example: A friend shares a post about a possible therapeutic remedy during the Covid-19 pandemic. You trust her, but there’s something questionable about the info. You can always check reputable news sources to see if anyone there is reporting on the issue, and Snopes.com has been doing yeoman work in rumor busting for years.

It also never hurts to run through the four steps to help inoculate yourself against misinformation, as formulated by digital media analyst Mike Caulfield at Washington State University, known by the acronym SIFT:

STOP: What is the source of information here? Often a quick check can answer that, but at other times you may need to dig deeper to verify some claims.

INVESTIGATE THE SOURCE: How knowledgeable is the group that’s behind this information? Do they have an agenda? What do other groups say about them? Start with Wikipedia and go from there.

FIND TRUSTED COVERAGE: Check out multiple sources to see what they say about the issue, and see if there is a consensus developing. Look for analysis or reporting you can trust.

TRACE TO THE ORIGINAL: Trace the quote or clip back to where it came from. See if there’s a longer version, the raw tape or transcript, so you can see what happened before and after, for fuller context. Check to see if a research paper linked in the story is presented accurately.

3

You have more power than you think. But also, big tech needs to get a grip on this.

The Pew Research Center says one in five Americans now rely on social media as their primary source of news, and they’re less likely to get the facts right.

Thanks to algorithms, those feeds are tailored to our preferences, setting us up to live in our own ideological silos. This as we enter yet another decade of lost journalism jobs and withering local news outlets. (For more on what local journos are doing, check out the Seattle Times’ Save the Free Press campaign.)

The response from social media companies to the barrage of bad information has gotten better, but it’s still spotty and many close observers like New York Times columnist Kara Swisher believe it’s not nearly robust enough to match the threat of the moment.

Ryan Calo, from the Center for an Informed Public, says things have improved since 2016, highlighting how companies like Twitter are starting to enforce their policies on reducing hate speech and misinformation by tagging inaccurate tweets. But he says there’s still a ways to go – and it’s complicated:

(Check out 19:09– 46:44)

4

Even the experts find this challenging to combat in their daily lives.

One of the most asked questions from our audience? “How do I get my friend or relative to stop sharing stuff that’s clearly untrue without damaging our relationship?”

The answer, often? “That’s a really good question.” Meaning, yikes. Our guests feel the emotional quicksand as well.

But even if it feels like an impossible task, our experts say it’s worth trying to change the dynamic, perhaps now more than ever. Some tips:

*Start with what you agree on, some common ground: “Yes, I’m really concerned about my kids’ health. How do we keep our kids safe with this virus going around?”

*Then move on to what you think is the untrue assertion, and cite your sources.

Researcher Kate Starbird says correcting yourself when you’ve made a mistake or retweeted something you discover later is wrong can also send the right message:

(Check out 43:42- 46:50)

5

We can be part of the solution, and not part of the problem.

This is one of the biggest takeaways from all of our guests: Slow down.

If you feel yourself getting a jolt of some kind, an emotional hit of anger, fear, or anxiety, check yourself. The piece you’re reading is designed to elicit some kind of emotion to hook you with. Is it absolutely essential to retweet your feelings right this very second? Probably not. Take a deep breath, set it aside, and come back to it later.

Here’s Carl Bergstrom, on how to retain your sanity as a barrage of information comes our way at the initial stages of an emergency (like, say, a pandemic):

(See 36:00 - 38:37)

The next Stand With the Facts event is on Oct. 13, "How election disinformation targets people of color." Register here.