Should I trust the information I read online?

The key characteristic that defines the 2022 Elections is the fact that social media is going to be a battleground for the campaign. With a lot of restrictions surrounding COVID-19 health protocols, candidates have no choice but to enter the social media arena.

With that being said, a lot of information is being exchanged online. Filipinos now find themselves asking: what is fact and what is fake?

With the amount of fake news and mudslinging among the candidates that come out every day, most Filipinos have chosen to regard everything they read online as fake and just choose to believe whatever it is that they want to believe. It is important to conduct your own investigation to find out what is truth and what is not so that you can easily determine what you want to believe based on the truth.

Here are some things to be cautious of when presented with certain information.

Check the full video

If you see a short video claiming that a person said this or a person said that, be careful because video editing can make it seem like a certain person said a certain statement, when in fact, these are just words cut and pasted together. If you see short videos like these, it is best to find out the original, live-streamed video. Livestreamed videos usually cannot be edited or manipulated.

Check the sources

Why do sources matter? Sources determine if the information is credible or not. Think about it, if a person you do not trust says something to you, you will think twice about believing if this is true. Similarly, you wouldn’t want to believe words that have no sources; it’s like believing in gossip, and you know that if it’s gossip about you from an unknown source, it’s likely not going to be true or legitimate.

Examine the way the information is written

Information is usually handled with much care, written in a straightforward, easy-to-understand manner. If the information is written on a dodgy website with lots of advertisement boxes, a lot of typographical and grammatical errors, then, the information likely has errors, too. Think about it, you wouldn’t really be trusting a news company that keeps coming out with substandard newspapers, right? You wouldn’t even be trusting a television show that failed to edit its episode properly.