Based on “inoculation theory”, one of the most effective ways to combat the harm of misinformation is to preemptively educate the public on various critical thinking strategies. Among these strategies are fallacy identification and source analysis based on the currency, relevance, author, and purpose of sources.

This essentially means that it is your responsibility as a media consumer to implement critical thinking tactics when scrolling online. Instead of taking every piece of information that you see at face value, take a second to apply a more critical lens to the information.

Does the source seem to have some kind of political bias?

Is the article legitimate, or is it a fabricated screenshot created by a user?

Can I identify any misleading tactics (fallacies) that the source uses to present information?

Be especially aware of "denial campaigns", which could include:

• attempts to discredit experts

• oversimplification of scientific evidence 

• appeals to conspiracy (conspiracy theories)

• citations of fake experts

• magnification of dissenting groups/opinions that are actually minorities

Cook, John, Peter Ellerton, and David Kinkead. "Deconstructing climate misinformation to identify reasoning errors." Environmental Research Letters 13.2 (2018): 024018.

Treen, Kathie M. d'I., Hywel TP Williams, and Saffron J. O'Neill. "Online misinformation about climate change." Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 11.5 (2020): e665.