kapitensaymada:

aconitequeen:

oonachaplins:

encouraging people to fact check would involve:

• giving resources like websites that help fact checking,
• giving instructions on how to fact check information they see on tumblr themselves
• giving tips for spotting false information
• giving a list of unreliable sources and satiricle websites that make joke articles (like the onion)
• kindly pointing out false information without mocking people or calling them names

encouraging fact checking is not:

• “lol tumblr would believe it if you told them that someone wrote gullbile on the ceiling above their head”
• “lol this is what happens on a website that thinks school is oppressive”
• “lol tumblr is so *insert ableist term here*”

Snopes is probably your best source for internet rumors and here’s a list of fake news sites. 

Most folks know that Fox News is not reliable despite, somehow, being a genuine news broadcaster but I’m always seeing The Daily Mail articles being passed around so keep in mind that TDM is just as bad as Fox News. 

When it comes to science news try to avoid general news, they usually either get it completely wrong or are very misleading. Try to find the journal it was originally published in or, at least, somewhere with the abstract. Science Direct, the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and the Wiley Online Library are good databases.

When you see social media screencaps make sure a link is included, if there’s no link try to find the source for yourself and if you can’t find it than don’t put any stock in it. It’s incredibly easy to falsify facebook, twitter, and even tumblr posts. 

To add,  here are Six Easy Ways to Tell If That Viral Story Is a Hoax