• Misinformation and disinformation are rampant on social media, spread by state and non-state actors with malicious intent as well as by unwitting users. These individuals and entities abuse social media to promote information that serves their political/financial interests. Given the proliferation of social media and online information in general, this can have profound social consequences. According to an October 27, 2022 Pew Research poll, adults under 30 are now almost as likely (50%) to trust information from social media sites as they are to trust information from national news outlets (56%). Social media information can be harder to verify than information found in newspapers or television reports, given the unknown or unclear original source. In the United States, trust in news media has become ever more sharply polarized along partisan lines in recent years.  For these reasons and more, the ability to discern reliable sources and information from untrustworthy ones has become more important than ever.

• How can we know what sources of information we can trust on social media?  The nonprofit First Draft offers “Five Pillars of Verification” for verifying online information:
    1. PROVENANCE: Are you looking at the original account, article, or piece of content?

2. SOURCE: Who created the account or article, or captured the original piece of content?

3. DATE: When was it created?

4. LOCATION: Where was the account established, the website created, or piece of content captured?

5. MOTIVATION: Why was the account established, the website created, or the piece of content captured?