How to Help Kids Spot Misinformation and Disinformation

A lot of news media and social media content is designed to grab our attention and keep us engaged. And whether we're getting our news from a TV network, TikTok, or YouTube, it can be hard to tell what's accurate these days. Knowing that the news we consume can be biased, misreported, or even fake, it's crucial that all of us—especially young people—learn to decode the information we encounter.

As kids get older, parents and caregivers can help them become better critical thinkers. Teach your child to ask these questions when they come across news coverage from any source:

• Who made this content? What's their possible motivation for creating it?
• Does the news outlet or content creator seem trustworthy? Why, or why not?
• Who is the audience for this message?
• Is this actual news or an ad? How can you tell?
• Who might benefit or be harmed by this message?
  

Then, help your kid identify misinformation and disinformation using these tips:

• Be wary of accounts that don't have a lot of followers or aren't verified on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. This is a good indication to do more research on them before trusting what they say.
• Even when a channel or an account appears to be verified, they could still post clickbait. That's content designed to influence you to visit a page, video, or image online. Use these tips to identify clickbait.
• Make sure headlines and captions match the content, and always read or view the full post before sharing. It's not a good idea to believe or spread information based on just the headline.
• Look for signs of low-quality content. Examples include headlines and captions with grammatical errors, bold claims that aren't backed up by solid sources, overly edited videos, and sensationalist images.
• Check whether other credible outlets are reporting the same news. If not, that doesn't necessarily mean the news is untrue, but it does mean you should dig deeper. Also check the date a story or video was posted to make sure you're getting the most recent information.
• Use Snopes or FactCheck.org to verify news that seems highly unlikely before trusting or sharing it. This can also help you separate fact from opinion.
• Trust your gut. Misinformation and disinformation are created to get extreme reactions out of people. If what you're seeing or reading makes you feel strong emotions, it could be a sign that something isn't right.
• Brush up on your media literacy skills and learn how to better spot misinformation and disinformation with games like Get Bad News and Spot the Troll.

Finally, remind your kid that we all make mistakes when it comes to identifying misinformation. But being aware that they could (and probably will) come across inaccurate content online, and practicing the skills to identify it can go a long way to recognizing reliable information.