Daily Herald opinion: As consumers of information, we have a duty to challenge claims that seem too bold

A couple weeks ago, we noticed that a former state senator from the suburbs shared a Celebrity Updates post on Facebook declaring that ABC had signed conservative personality Candace Owens for a morning show to replace “The View.”

It seemed like such an unlikely story that we went to the web to check on its veracity. In about 90 seconds, we were able to determine that there was no truth to it.

The snopes.com fact check site reports that the claim originated on SpaceXMania, a website that describes its reports as “the freshest fake news, some sassy analysis and a good dose of satire.”

It is not the first time the former suburban legislator has gleefully passed along misinformation on social media. We do not read malicious intent in her posts — just an incredible lack of healthy skepticism about hyperbolic claims that reinforce her political views.

Our point today is not just that she needs to be a more critical judge of the stuff she comes across on social media, especially before passing it on to others. Our point is that we all do. Especially at the advent of artificial intelligence that undoubtedly will make misinformation look and feel believable.

As we have said in the past: In a democratic republic, we all have an obligation as citizens to be informed. That includes putting in the serious effort to gauge the accuracy and context of the news and information we receive.

“If you want to be informed, if you don’t want to be fooled by this stuff,” says Dan Evon of The News Literacy Project, “you have to be an active consumer. You can’t just take these incredible rumors as they are.”

This always has been true, but never more so than today. Evon and newslit.org recently shared three practical ways to detect misinformation.

First, slow down. The web is built to provoke emotional reactions and those passions can prompt you to believe and pass on things without taking the time to think things through.

Evon suggests you take a moment to ask yourself “if that image or claim is true, what else would need to be true?” He cited an image that was circulated in January of The Eiffel Tower ablaze. If that had actually happened, you would be able to find news coverage of it. But if you had looked, there was none.

Second, Evon said, remove the frame. That is, try to view the content apart from the messaging someone included in passing it along.

Third, and we think most importantly, check the source. If you come across a bold claim on social media, how credible is the account that posted it? Does the source post legitimate news coverage or does it have an ax to grind or focus on satire and jokes?

Most of us decry misinformation. All of us need to be active critical thinkers who look out for it.