Disinformation can cause psychological and physical harm—for example, by causing anxiety and anger, or by tricking people into taking dangerous alternative medicines or engaging in acts of violence.Disinformation disenfranchises and disempowers. It harms free expression, activism, and democracy by:

Disinformation often targets historically marginalized and oppressed communities to exploit and expand inequities. Learning to recognize and call out racialized and gender-based disinformation is a powerful first step in countering it.

Disinformation is effective because it exploits psychological vulnerabilities that we all share. The good news is that being aware of these tricks helps communities defend against them. Here are the most important ones:

It’s important that satire, parody, and art aren’t considered examples of disinformation. Overly broad definitions of disinformation can quickly lead to censorship and stifle creativity. It’s important to take care to recognize nuance, motive, context, and more in order to fully address the problem.

Being media literate means knowing how to judge the quality of information you receive and how to seek out high quality content. The term “media literacy” is sometimes used interchangeably with “digital literacy” or “news literacy.” Our partners at the National Association for Media Literacy Education define it this way:The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication. In its simplest terms, media literacy builds upon the foundation of traditional literacy and offers new forms of reading and writing. Media literacy empowers people to be critical thinkers and makers, effective communicators and active citizens.Regardless of the definition, media literacy is essential to democratic participation and the ability of individuals and communities to advocate for themselves. A lack of media literacy means vulnerability to disinformation and the disempowerment and harms that come with it.Register for an upcoming virtual event on PEN America’s Media Literacy program page, Knowing the News, and check out our curricular approaches to a variety of topics such as elections, public health, and social justice.

It is important to refer to a diversity of news sources—both local and national, nightly news and nonprofit news, for example—and it is equally important to learn to evaluate the trustworthiness of those sources, discerning fact-based reporting from editorial writing or even sponsored content published for partisan political purposes. These nuances can be difficult to hone in on. Here are some helpful guidelines:

As technology becomes more sophisticated, the process of creating doctored images, manipulated videos, or fake social media accounts becomes easier and more accessible. Check out these tips and tools for detecting false content and verifying accurate information.Photos and videos may be presented out of context by miscaptioning or misidentifying them, or doctored to distort their meaning. Before sharing or validating unverified images, run a Google image search to learn more about the image’s origin. This can be especially useful when you suspect an image may have been doctored to fit a certain narrative or in case an image has been miscaptioned or cited out of context. Reputable news organizations and even fact-checking organizations have sophisticated tools to authenticate video, so their feeds can be a useful guide.More tools:Spreaders of disinformation often create fake, shadow accounts of fabricated or famous people in order to spread their false content far and wide, or anonymously. If you encounter a suspicious account, here are some ways to check its authenticity:Fact-checking health information and statistics, especially during a public health crisis, can be tricky as the science evolves and we learn more collectively every day. Consistency is important, as is inspiring and instilling trust in credible health organizations and medical professionals. Validating people’s fears and anxieties is also an important step in working together to access accurate information.For health information, refer to trusted medical institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.gov) or the World Health Organization (WHO.int). Some other reliable sources of information and tools to help you get there:

It’s possible to head off disinformation in advance through “prebunking” or confront it through “debunking.” These are really effective tools for community leaders to have at the ready:There are a wealth of online fact-checking tools to help with prebunking and debunking available online. Here are a few we recommend:

Like many polarizing topics, it can be difficult to approach conversations about what constitutes false information (and what doesn’t), especially when two parties don’t share the same understanding of the facts. But leaning into these exchanges is crucial to countering the divisive effects of misinformation. Here are some helpful tips to guide your efforts: Before you attempt to correct someone who has shared what you believe to be mis- or disinformation, try to fact-check the story yourself. Check out the “About Us” page on unfamiliar sites and use “lateral reading”—run the claim through Google or another search engine alongside the terms “true,” “false,” or “hoax.” Also make sure to practice “click restraint”—don’t just automatically click the first search result—because often misinformation gets repeated in search results. Pause and consider which source seems most reliable.Preparing thoughtful responses to some of the most frequent misinformation narratives around whatever topic you’re discussing can be a helpful step to take in advance. When redirecting someone to credible facts, reference reputable sources as well as trusted community leaders like journalists and organizers, and remember that you can be a trusted source too.If you message someone about their social media post containing false information or approach someone in-person, take care to use a supportive and positive tone. Otherwise, you risk alienating the person, making them less receptive to the information you’re trying to share. And if you’re engaging via social media, consider reaching out through a private message rather than publicly correcting, which can sometimes be perceived as shaming and may also just further amplify the disinformation.However you engage, do so with empathy. Call people in as opposed to calling out. For more advice on how to do this, check out our discussion with misinformation expert Bridget Todd.Sometimes the conversation may not go well. Your friend, family or community member might get defensive when met with your fact-check, and the exchange may no longer be constructive. If it seems like the conversation is moving in that direction, just remember that it can be hard for people to accept corrections, and it is tough to change attitudes—no matter how well-grounded your comments are.