How to spot election misinformation and stop its spread
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While politicians slinging misleading claims may be somewhat routine, false claims about when or where to vote can disenfranchise voters, and lies about election fraud can diminish trust in results, say University of Washington researchers.
With that in mind, we've compiled some expert tips on how to spot (and guard against) false or misleading election claims, so you don't get sucked in by the memes.
1. Reverse image search that photo. Claims of voter fraud or election malfeasance are often accompanied by alleged photo evidence.
- But if you run an image through Google's "search by image" function and see it used repeatedly in different contexts, that's a sign to dig deeper, Rachel Moran-Prestridge, a senior research scientist at UW's Center for an Informed Public, tells Axios.
- At a minimum, it should "tell your brain that whatever you saw that image attached to is probably not the right context," she says.
2. Don't take the ragebait. Beware posts that elicit strong emotions, positive or negative.
- "Anything that is trying to make it sound scandalous or exciting is probably not going to be true," Moran-Prestridge says.
3. Check other sources. State and county election officials' websites and social media accounts "are going to have accurate, trusted information," says Elizabeth Howard of the Brennan Center for Justice.
- You can also turn to verified fact-checking sites such as PolitiFact and AP Factcheck to help debunk election rumors, while the Artificial Intelligence Incident Database can help verify whether content is genuine or AI-generated, per the Brennan Center.
4. Be patient. Especially in vote-by-mail elections, like in Washington state, ballots take several days to be counted, and that alone doesn't mean anything nefarious.
- When something does go amiss, it often is remedied or sorted out fairly quickly — or, a solution may already be in place that wasn't shared in the TikTok video you saw, Moran-Prestridge says.
Go deeper: Why lying by politicians is generally legal