Information Validation

Get Media Smart

You receive hundreds of messages every day through social media, television, radio, news, and more. The same technology that helps you stay in touch and informed also makes it very easy for some users to spread false information in order to confuse and influence the public.

The resources on this web page can help you learn more about misinformation and disinformation, provide access to organizations that are trying to make a difference, and help you improve your media literacy. Let’s work together to get media smart!

The Difference between Misinformation and Disinformation

Misinformation is information that isn’t factually true but wasn’t shared on purpose to hurt someone. For example, you may have forwarded a post that you later found out was not true, but you didn’t share it on purpose to spread lies. It was an innocent mistake and an example of misinformation at work. The tricky part is that even if you didn’t mean any harm, spreading misinformation can still be a problem.

Disinformation, on the other hand, is planned, purposeful, coordinated and deliberate untruths spread with malicious intent. Disinformation is often built on a kernel of truth to help it spread, which means it can be hard to spot and stop.

Check out the links in the following sections to find out how you can avoid being fooled by misinformation and disinformation.
Games & Activities

These games and activities will give you the skills you need to fight misinformation and disinformation at the source:

Harmony Square
Can you disrupt the peace of Harmony Square by learning the techniques of social media trolls? Once you learn the tricks of this quick web game, you’ll be less likely to get fooled!

Break the Fake
Games and quick videos to help you spot the fake stuff – if you only have a minute, check out the video on four easy ways to fact-check.

Stanford – Civic Online Reasoning (COR)
An online curriculum providing free bite-sized lessons and assessments to help teach students – and ourselves – how to evaluate online information.
Tips & Tools

These resources will help you sort out what you can trust and when to be skeptical. This is what “doing your own research” ACTUALLY looks like:

Bellingcat: Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Verification
Find out how to spot misinformation on the internet and on social media sites

Bellingcat: Separating Fact from Fiction on Social Media in Times of Conflict
Tips for assessing social media posts that pertain to war or conflicts

Google Fact Check Explorer
Search or browse recent fact checks from multiple sources at once

Google Reverse Image Search
Use Google’s reverse image search function to find the actual source of a viral image

Internet Archive – Wayback Machine
Use the Wayback Machine to see what a website used to look like

OSoMe Tools
Web tools created by the Indiana University’s Observatory on Social Media (OSoMe) team to help combat the spread of misinformation

Samara Centre’s Field Guide to Online Political Conversations
Tips for ways to have better conversations about politics on social media

Simon Fraser University – Disinformation Resources
A compilation of resources to help you detect disinformation when you see it; includes lectures, podcasts, TED Talks, and more

SourceWatch
Find out who is funding organizations in the news
Fact Checking Sites
Fact checking sites can be helpful, especially if you use more than one. For extra credit, make sure you look at how they came to their conclusions as well – it’s a great way to learn:

AFP Fact Check

FactCheck.org

International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)

Media Bias/Fact Check

Politifact

Snopes
Research & Organizations

These are the organizations collecting the hard data on misinformation and disinformation in Canada and the US, and its impacts on democracy around the world:

Alliance for Securing Democracy
Works to document and expose foreign state actors’ efforts to undermine democracy and democratic institutions around the world

Credibility Coalition
Developing a set of indicators according to open standards and sharing the results of our distributed tests and validations

Digital Democracy Project
A joint initiative led by the Public Policy Forum and the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University

Duke Reporter’s Lab
Explores new forms of journalism, including fact-checking, which are empowering democracies and holding governments accountable

Evidence for Democracy: Misinformation in Canada
A research project that reviews the spread of misinformation in Canada and provides options for addressing it; for more context, explore the Evidence for Democracy: Annotated Bibliography

Exposed by CMD
Formerly PR Watch, this site by the Centre for Media and Democracy leads in-depth, award-winning investigations to understand why and how special interests and dark money are reshaping American politics and elections

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)
An American media watch group that has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986

Global Reporting Centre
A Vancouver-based non-profit organization dedicated to highlighting important neglected stories around the world

How to Identify Misinformation, Disinformation and Malinformation
A guide on how to tell misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation apart, from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security.

MediaWise
Empowers people to be more critical consumers of content online by teaching key digital literacy skills needed to spot misinformation and disinformation

MediaSmarts
Canada’s Centre for Digital Media Literacy provides resources for parents and teachers

Newswise
Provides a platform for universities, institutions, and journalists to spread breaking news to their audiences

The Trust Project
An international consortium of news organizations collaborating to use transparency to build a more trustworthy and trusted press

Our thanks to Vancouver Public Library

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Information Validation

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