Misinformation and Media Trust
Misinformation, Media Trust, and Digital Safety
The Changing Information Environment
Digital technology has transformed how people discover, produce, and share information. News that once moved primarily through newspapers, radio, and television now circulates instantly through social networks, video platforms, messaging applications, search engines, influencers, and artificial intelligence systems.
This expanded information environment offers unprecedented access to knowledge and public participation. It also creates new opportunities for false information, propaganda, fraud, and manipulated media to spread quickly.
Misinformation refers broadly to false or inaccurate information that may be shared without deliberate intent to deceive. Disinformation is false or misleading information deliberately created or distributed to manipulate an audience. Malinformation can involve genuine information used misleadingly or maliciously.
The growing volume of digital content makes distinguishing reliable information from manipulation an increasingly important civic and personal skill.
Artificial Intelligence, Deepfakes, and Synthetic Media
Generative artificial intelligence has made it easier to create convincing photographs, videos, voices, documents, and quotations. Synthetic media can be used for entertainment, education, accessibility, and creative expression, but it also introduces significant risks.
Deepfakes can imitate political leaders, journalists, celebrities, business executives, family members, and ordinary citizens. AI-generated recordings may appear to show someone making statements or taking actions that never occurred.
The traditional belief that visual or audio evidence provides reliable proof is becoming less dependable. Professional journalists and investigators increasingly rely on source verification, original files, metadata, contextual evidence, and comparison with independent reporting.
Synthetic media creates another problem known as the liar's dividend. As the public becomes aware that realistic media can be fabricated, individuals may dismiss authentic photographs, recordings, or documents by claiming they were created by artificial intelligence.
Content provenance systems are being developed to document when digital material was created and how it was edited. Standards such as those promoted by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity seek to attach tamper-evident information to digital content.
Provenance technology can support authentication, but it is not a complete solution. Authentic media may lack credentials, metadata can disappear as files move between platforms, and broad adoption remains necessary.
Elections, Democracy, and Foreign Influence
Misinformation poses particular challenges during elections. False narratives can target candidates, voting systems, election workers, immigrants, racial groups, public agencies, and the legitimacy of election results.
Generative AI may increase the volume, speed, personalization, and apparent credibility of misleading political content. A single operator can potentially produce large numbers of persuasive images, videos, advertisements, and social-media posts.
Foreign governments and coordinated influence networks may use fabricated personas, automated accounts, propaganda, covert relationships, cyber operations, and misleading content to influence political debate.
Not every online influence campaign changes the outcome of an election. Researchers caution against assuming that digital propaganda automatically persuades large numbers of voters.
The broader danger may be the gradual erosion of confidence. Repeated exposure to conflicting claims can leave citizens uncertain about which institutions, journalists, or election officials they should trust.
Election agencies and cybersecurity organizations increasingly use rumor-control programs and direct public communication to counter recurring false claims about ballots, voting technology, election procedures, and certification.
Media Literacy and News Literacy
Media literacy is the ability to access, evaluate, understand, and responsibly use information from different forms of media.
News literacy focuses specifically on understanding how journalism works and how to distinguish reliable reporting from advertising, propaganda, opinion, and fabricated content.
Useful information-evaluation practices include checking the original source, identifying the author or organization, comparing coverage from several independent outlets, examining supporting evidence, and distinguishing factual statements from opinions.
Readers should be especially cautious when content creates intense anger, fear, or excitement while encouraging immediate sharing.
Lateral reading is an important verification technique. Rather than remaining on an unfamiliar website and judging it only by appearance, a reader opens additional sources to investigate the publisher, author, organization, and disputed claim.
Finland has gained international attention for integrating media literacy and source evaluation into education beginning at an early age. Other governments and international organizations are expanding media-literacy programs as part of efforts to counter propaganda and digital manipulation.
Media literacy does not require citizens to distrust everything. Its purpose is to develop informed skepticism and evidence-based judgment.
News Trust and Journalism
Public trust in journalism has become a major concern in many countries.
Audiences increasingly receive information through social media, influencers, podcasts, video platforms, and algorithmically selected feeds. Younger adults are particularly likely to encounter news outside traditional news organizations.
Declining trust can result from political polarization, perceived bias, inaccurate reporting, unclear corrections, economic pressure on local journalism, and confusion between professional reporting and opinion-based content.
News organizations can strengthen trust by explaining how reporting was conducted, identifying sources when possible, correcting mistakes transparently, separating news from opinion, and communicating directly with communities.
Independent journalism remains important because professional reporting institutions maintain processes for editing, verification, documentation, and correction. These processes are imperfect, but they create accountability mechanisms that often do not exist for anonymous social-media accounts.
Healthy information systems require both responsible journalism and informed audiences.
Social Media, Algorithms, and Online Influence
Social platforms have become major channels for news and political communication.
Users may encounter breaking news quickly and gain access to perspectives that previously received little coverage. Social media can also support political organization, emergency communication, and public participation.
However, engagement-driven recommendation systems may favor provocative or emotionally powerful content. Material that generates anger, fear, or outrage can receive wide distribution regardless of accuracy.
A relatively small number of highly active accounts may produce or distribute a disproportionate share of misleading information.
News influencers have also become important sources of information. Many audiences value their accessibility, personality, and ability to explain issues conversationally.
Influencer-based news may lack traditional editorial review. Users may also encounter personalities selected by algorithms rather than deliberately choosing a news source.
Understanding how recommendation systems shape information exposure is becoming a fundamental part of digital literacy.
Conspiracy Theories and the Loss of Shared Reality
Conspiracy theories often explain complicated events through hidden plots involving powerful groups or institutions.
Digital communities can reinforce these narratives by repeatedly circulating selective evidence and dismissing contradictory information as part of the conspiracy.
When communities no longer agree on basic factual evidence, democratic discussion becomes increasingly difficult.
Economic insecurity, social isolation, declining local journalism, poor health, and distrust of institutions may increase vulnerability to conspiratorial narratives.
Responses to conspiracy theories require more than simply presenting additional facts. Trust, social relationships, transparency, and credible communication also influence how people evaluate information.
Scams, Fraud, and Impersonation
Digital misinformation is not limited to politics. False information is widely used to steal money and personal information.
Social-media platforms have become major channels for investment fraud, romance scams, fake shopping offers, deceptive employment opportunities, and impersonation schemes.
Artificial intelligence can help criminals create realistic voices, photographs, documents, advertisements, and messages.
Impersonation scams may falsely claim to represent government agencies, banks, technology companies, employers, or family members.
Urgency is a common warning sign. Scammers frequently demand immediate action and discourage victims from consulting another person.
Requests for payment through cryptocurrency, gift cards, cash couriers, or unusual payment applications should receive especially careful scrutiny.
Unexpected financial or account requests should be independently verified through a known phone number, official website, or previously established contact method.
Phishing and Account Security
Phishing messages are designed to trick users into revealing passwords, financial details, or other sensitive information.
Messages may imitate banks, delivery services, social networks, government agencies, employers, or personal contacts.
Common phishing techniques include urgent security warnings, unexpected invoices, fake account suspensions, prize notifications, and requests to open attachments.
Users should avoid clicking unexpected links before verifying the sender and the request.
Strong, unique passwords reduce the damage caused by credential theft. Password managers can help users create and maintain different passwords for multiple accounts.
Multifactor authentication provides an additional security barrier when a password is stolen or guessed.
Software and operating-system updates should be installed promptly because updates often repair vulnerabilities that criminals can exploit.
Privacy and Personal Information
Personal information can be used to target scams, impersonation attempts, harassment, and social-engineering attacks.
Users should regularly review privacy settings and consider how much information they publicly share about their location, employment, family relationships, travel, and financial activities.
Information from several public sources can be combined to create a detailed personal profile.
Digital privacy does not require withdrawing entirely from online life. It involves making deliberate decisions about what information is shared, with whom, and for what purpose.
People facing elevated risks, including journalists, activists, and civil-society organizations, may need additional security practices such as encrypted communication, device protection, threat modeling, and secure backup systems.
Fact-Checking and Verification
Professional fact-checkers investigate disputed statements, images, videos, and viral claims.
Organizations such as AP Fact Check, Reuters Fact Check, PolitiFact, and FactCheck.org publish evidence explaining how claims were evaluated.
Users can also conduct basic verification.
A suspicious quotation can be searched to determine whether reputable organizations documented the statement.
Reverse-image searching may reveal that a photograph originally appeared years earlier or in a different country.
Video verification tools can divide footage into keyframes and assist with image searches.
Fact-check search engines allow users to identify whether professional organizations have previously examined a claim.
Verification is particularly important before sharing information that could harm an individual, influence an election, cause public panic, or affect health decisions.
Health Misinformation
Health misinformation can influence decisions involving medication, vaccination, nutrition, mental health, and medical treatment.
Social-media personalities may provide advice without appropriate professional qualifications or scientific evidence.
Users should examine the credentials of people making medical claims and look for supporting evidence from established health organizations, medical institutions, and peer-reviewed research.
Sensational claims promising rapid cures or suggesting that all medical professionals are hiding a simple treatment deserve careful scrutiny.
Health literacy includes the ability to find, understand, evaluate, and use reliable health information.
During health emergencies, large volumes of conflicting information can create an infodemic. Effective responses include transparent public communication and teaching citizens how to evaluate sources.
Climate Misinformation
Climate misinformation may misrepresent scientific findings, exaggerate uncertainty, circulate old photographs as evidence of current events, or present isolated weather incidents as proof for broad conclusions.
Climate claims should be compared with established scientific research and credible institutions.
Media-literacy programs increasingly teach users to identify manipulation involving climate data, visual material, and misleading narratives.
The same verification techniques used for political misinformation can also help evaluate environmental claims: identify the original source, examine supporting evidence, compare independent coverage, and investigate images.
Policy and Platform Governance
Governments and technology companies continue to debate how digital platforms should respond to misinformation.
Possible measures include transparency requirements, political-advertising rules, independent audits, researcher access, fact-checking partnerships, content labeling, and stronger systems for reporting harmful material.
The European Union has established major digital-platform rules addressing systemic risks and platform accountability.
International organizations including the United Nations, OECD, and UNESCO have developed principles and recommendations concerning information integrity and digital governance.
Regulation creates difficult questions involving freedom of expression. Governments may misuse broad misinformation laws to suppress criticism or independent journalism.
Policies therefore require clear definitions, transparency, independent oversight, and protection of fundamental rights.
Building Information Integrity
Information integrity describes an environment in which people can access reliable information and make informed decisions.
No single technology can eliminate misinformation.
Effective responses involve independent journalism, transparent public institutions, responsible technology companies, media literacy, academic research, fact-checking, cybersecurity, and informed citizens.
Authentication standards may help identify the origin of digital material. Education can strengthen users' ability to investigate claims. Stronger account security can reduce impersonation and hacking.
Public institutions can improve resilience by communicating clearly, correcting inaccurate information quickly, and making reliable information easy to find.
The goal should not be to create a society where everyone agrees. Democratic societies depend on disagreement and debate.
The challenge is preserving a shared ability to examine evidence, identify credible sources, and distinguish disagreement from deliberate deception.
Practical Digital Safety Checklist
Before sharing a surprising claim, identify the original source.
Compare important claims with several independent and credible organizations.
Investigate unfamiliar websites and authors using lateral reading.
Be cautious about emotional content demanding immediate action.
Verify unexpected requests for money through an independent communication method.
Use long, unique passwords and a reputable password manager.
Enable multifactor authentication on important accounts.
Install security and software updates promptly.
Avoid opening unexpected links or attachments.
Review privacy settings and limit unnecessary personal information.
Use established fact-checking and verification resources when a claim is disputed.
Pause before sharing. A few minutes of verification can prevent false information from reaching thousands of additional people.
Conclusion
Misinformation, declining media trust, artificial intelligence, digital fraud, and social-media manipulation are interconnected challenges in the modern information environment.
Synthetic images and voices are making traditional assumptions about evidence less reliable. Algorithmic platforms can distribute misleading information at enormous speed. Criminals use the same technologies to support phishing, fraud, and impersonation.
At the same time, practical solutions are available.
Media literacy can teach people to investigate sources and evaluate evidence. Professional journalism and fact-checking provide important verification systems. Digital-security practices can protect accounts and personal information. Provenance technology may help document the history of digital content.
Governments, technology companies, educators, journalists, and citizens all have roles in strengthening information integrity.
The most important habit may also be one of the simplest: slow down, investigate the source, compare the evidence, and verify before sharing.
AI, Deepfakes, and Synthetic Media
Yalda Hakim on the Collapse of “Seeing Is Believing”
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | April 25, 2026
Journalist Yalda Hakim discusses how AI-generated images, voices, and quotations are making professional verification increasingly important.
AI Deepfakes Blur Reality in the 2026 U.S. Midterm Campaigns
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | March 28, 2026
Political campaigns are using realistic AI-generated videos in a lightly regulated environment, raising concerns about deception and declining electoral trust.
State Actors Drive Visual Misinformation About the Iran War
| AP Staff | Associated Press | March 7, 2026
AI-generated videos, recycled footage, and state-linked propaganda networks have made authentic information about the conflict harder to identify.
The Morning Show Uses Drama to Examine Deepfakes and AI
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | September 16, 2025
The television series explores impersonation, synthetic media, propaganda, and the threat AI poses to journalism and personal identity.
UN Calls for Stronger Detection of AI-Generated Deepfakes
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | July 11, 2025
The International Telecommunication Union recommends authentication standards and verification tools for detecting manipulated images, audio, and video.
Denmark Moves to Protect People From Deepfake Impersonation
| AP Staff | Associated Press | June 27, 2025
Denmark proposed broad legal protections against unauthorized digital imitations of a person’s face, body, and voice.
Democracy Playbook 2025
| Brookings Authors | Brookings Institution | January 17, 2025
The playbook identifies disinformation, authoritarian propaganda, platform manipulation, and AI-generated content as threats to democratic resilience.
A Judge Rejects an Expert Filing Containing AI-Generated Citations
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | January 13, 2025
A legal filing about misinformation was undermined when its own expert declaration included citations apparently invented by artificial intelligence.
AI Memes Turn Election Disinformation Into Shareable Satire
| Nicol Turner Lee and Samantha Lai | Brookings Institution | October 3, 2024
AI-generated memes can blur the distinction between parody and deception while spreading political narratives to large online audiences.
What Lawmakers Are Doing About Deepfakes
| AP Staff | Associated Press | February 2, 2024
States and federal lawmakers are considering criminal penalties, civil remedies, watermarking, detection systems, and rights over personal likenesses.
AI, TikTok, and the Liar’s Dividend in Elections
| Brookings Authors | Brookings Institution | January 22, 2024
Synthetic media creates direct deception risks while also allowing public figures to dismiss authentic evidence by claiming that it was fabricated.
Artificial Intelligence and Election Security
| U.S. Election Assistance Commission | EAC | Undated
Election officials receive guidance about AI-generated content, cybersecurity, voter communication, and maintaining confidence in election administration.
Content Authenticity Initiative
| Content Authenticity Initiative | CAI | Undated
The initiative promotes open systems for documenting when and how digital photographs and other media were created or edited.
Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity
C2PA develops technical standards for attaching tamper-evident provenance information to images, video, audio, and documents.
Partnership on AI: Responsible Practices for Synthetic Media
| Partnership on AI | Partnership on AI | Undated
The framework recommends disclosure, consent, safety testing, transparency, and responsible distribution of AI-generated media.
Elections, Democracy, and Foreign Influence
Harnessing Social Media for Increased Political Engagement
| Brookings Authors | Brookings Institution | March 3, 2026
The analysis considers how African governments can encourage political participation while limiting disinformation, privacy violations, and harmful content.
Russian-Linked Bots Spread Fear Before Germany’s Election
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | February 12, 2025
Researchers identified coordinated networks spreading fabricated terrorist warnings and political rumors intended to weaken public confidence.
How Disinformation Defined the 2024 Election Narrative
| Darrell M. West | Brookings Institution | November 7, 2024
False narratives shaped perceptions of candidates, government performance, immigration, public health, and the integrity of the election.
How Artificial Intelligence and Disinformation Affect Elections
| Brookings Authors | Brookings Institution | October 10, 2024
Experts discuss how generative AI can increase the volume, speed, personalization, and apparent credibility of election misinformation.
Are Concerns About Digital Disinformation and Elections Overblown?
| Brookings Authors | Brookings Institution | August 7, 2024
Researchers caution against assuming that every online influence operation changes election outcomes, while recognizing broader damage to institutional trust.
Race, Falsehoods, and Organized Political Disinformation
| Darrell M. West | Brookings Institution | July 30, 2024
Racial division, misleading political claims, and targeted disinformation remain powerful tools for mobilizing voters and undermining social trust.
TikTok, Foreign Influence, and Foreign Interference
| Brookings Authors | Brookings Institution | June 24, 2024
The analysis distinguishes ordinary foreign influence from covert or coercive interference involving disinformation, harassment, and manipulation.
News Organizations Face Major Trust Problems Before an Election
| David Bauder | Associated Press | May 1, 2024
Americans express concern about inaccurate reporting, unverified claims, bias, and the use of generative AI in election journalism.
Misinformation Is Eroding Confidence in Democracy
| Elaine Kamarck and Darrell M. West | Brookings Institution | July 26, 2022
Organized falsehoods create confusion, weaken confidence in elections, and make constructive democratic debate more difficult.
Data Misuse, Disinformation, and Elections
| Nicol Turner Lee and Samantha Lai | Brookings Institution | June 21, 2022
Personal data, algorithmic targeting, and information overload allow misleading political messages to reach susceptible groups with precision.
Protecting Elections From Rumors and Disinformation
| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | CISA | Undated
CISA explains the differences among misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation and how each can threaten public confidence.
Election Security Rumor Control
| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | CISA | Undated
The resource counters recurring false claims about voting systems, ballot processing, election technology, and the certification of results.
Recognizing Foreign Influence Operations
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | FBI | Undated
Foreign influence campaigns use fabricated personas, covert funding, cyberattacks, and misleading content to manipulate public opinion.
Malign Foreign Influence Threats
| Office of the Director of National Intelligence | ODNI | Undated
Intelligence officials describe how foreign governments combine propaganda, social media, cyber operations, and covert relationships to influence society.
Center for an Informed Public
| University of Washington | Center for an Informed Public | Undated
Researchers study rumors, election misinformation, crisis communication, online communities, and methods for improving public understanding.
Stanford Internet Observatory Research Archive
| Stanford University | Stanford Internet Observatory | Undated
Research addresses coordinated influence campaigns, platform manipulation, election integrity, online abuse, and emerging technology threats.
Media Literacy, News Literacy, and Education
What Americans Think It Takes to Be a Good News Consumer
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | May 14, 2026
Americans emphasize checking sources, comparing coverage, distinguishing facts from opinions, and remaining open to corrections when consuming news.
Finnish Children Learn Media Literacy Beginning at Age Three
| AP Staff | Associated Press | January 5, 2026
Finland integrates source evaluation, propaganda awareness, and AI literacy into education as part of its national defense against disinformation.
Media Literacy Can Curb Online Harm in South Sudan
| UNESCO | UNESCO | June 4, 2025
Media literacy can help communities recognize false claims, reduce hate speech, and participate more safely in digital spaces.
Media and Information Literacy and Digital Competencies
| UNESCO | UNESCO | April 12, 2025
UNESCO explains how critical thinking, digital skills, and ethical awareness help people distinguish reliable information from manipulation.
Teaching Children to Navigate Social Media Safely
| AP Staff | Associated Press | June 5, 2024
Experts recommend gradual, supervised introductions to social media rather than leaving children unprepared or relying entirely on prohibition.
Media Literacy Is a First Line of Defense Against Disinformation
| UNESCO | UNESCO | October 28, 2020
UNESCO argues that citizens need the ability to evaluate sources, identify manipulation, and understand how professional journalism verifies information.
Evaluating Digital Sources
| Stanford Libraries | Stanford University | Undated
Stanford’s materials encourage readers to leave unfamiliar websites, investigate publishers, and compare claims with independent authoritative sources.
News Literacy Project
| News Literacy Project | News Literacy Project | Undated
Educational programs help students and adults recognize credible journalism, manipulated content, conspiracies, and emotionally provocative misinformation.
News Trust, Journalism, and Information Integrity
Young Adults and the Future of News
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | December 3, 2025
Younger adults follow traditional news less closely and depend more heavily on social platforms, influencers, and digitally distributed information.
Global Concern About Made-Up News
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | April 24, 2025
Majorities across many countries regard fabricated news as a serious national problem and a threat to informed public participation.
Norwegian Press Association Comments on Information Integrity
| Norwegian Press Association | OECD | November 28, 2024
The submission argues that transparency, independent journalism, and sustainable news funding are essential to building public resilience against disinformation.
The Twin Crises of Despair and Misinformation
| Carol Graham | Brookings Institution | July 22, 2024
Communities facing social isolation, economic insecurity, declining local journalism, and poor health may be especially vulnerable to conspiratorial narratives.
Facts Not Fakes: Strengthening Information Integrity
The report recommends transparent government communication, independent media, research access, platform accountability, and public resilience measures.
The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online
| Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie | Pew Research Center | October 19, 2017
Experts disagree about whether technology will eventually reduce falsehoods or make manipulation more sophisticated and difficult to control.
News Habits and Media Research
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | Undated
The collection examines how audiences discover news, which platforms they use, and how trust differs across generations and political groups.
RAND Truth Decay Initiative
| RAND Corporation | RAND Corporation | Undated
Truth Decay describes growing disagreement about facts, blurred boundaries between opinion and evidence, and declining trust in institutions.
Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
| Harvard Kennedy School | Harvard University | Undated
The center studies journalism, political communication, platform power, misinformation, media economics, and the health of democratic discourse.
Trusting News Project
| Trusting News | Trusting News | Undated
The project helps newsrooms explain journalistic methods, disclose sourcing decisions, engage communities, and respond directly to public mistrust.
Social Media, Platforms, and Online Harms
News Influencers Fact Sheet
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | November 4, 2025
The fact sheet examines who follows news influencers, which platforms they use, and how influencer-based news differs from traditional journalism.
How Trust in News and Social-Media Information Has Changed
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 29, 2025
Trust in national and local news has declined, while younger adults increasingly place social-media information alongside conventional news sources.
Social Media and News Fact Sheet
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | September 25, 2025
The report tracks how many Americans receive news through social networks and how platform use varies by age and political affiliation.
Republicans Became More Trusting of News and Social Media
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | May 8, 2025
Survey findings document changing partisan attitudes toward information from national news organizations, local outlets, and social platforms.
America’s News Influencers
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | November 18, 2024
About one-fifth of American adults regularly receive news from social-media personalities, with the practice especially common among younger people.
Americans’ Experiences With Social-Media News Influencers
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | November 18, 2024
Many followers view influencer news as useful and distinctive, although algorithmic feeds may expose users to personalities they never deliberately selected.
British Police Reduce Their Use of X Over Harmful Content
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | October 11, 2024
Several British police forces reduced activity on X amid concerns about extremist material, disinformation, and declining value for public communication.
How Americans Get News on TikTok, X, Facebook, and Instagram
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | June 12, 2024
Users frequently encounter news that appears inaccurate, particularly on X and Facebook, while relying on algorithms for much of their exposure.
Many Americans Value Social-Media News but Fear Inaccuracy
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | February 7, 2024
Social-media news is convenient and immediate, but concerns about unverified facts, fake stories, and unreliable sources have increased.
Social-Media CEOs Testify About Child Exploitation and Safety
| AP Staff | Associated Press | January 31, 2024
Executives from major platforms faced questions about exploitation, addictive design, harmful recommendations, and protections for children.
Digital Conspiracy Theories and the Collapse of Shared Reality
| David Klepper | Associated Press | December 15, 2023
Conspiracy theories amplified by social media can fracture communities, encourage political extremism, and leave people uncertain about basic facts.
How Technology Platforms Fuel Political Polarization
| Chris Bail | Brookings Institution | September 27, 2021
Engagement-driven recommendation systems can reinforce political divisions by repeatedly exposing users to emotionally provocative and one-sided content.
Journalism, Fake News and Disinformation Handbook
This journalism handbook provides lessons on verification, social-media investigation, fact-checking, audience trust, and responses to information disorder.
Trust in Media Research
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | Undated
Pew tracks changing levels of trust in national news, local journalism, social media, and specific information providers.
How Misinformation Spreads on Social Media
| Brookings Authors | Brookings Institution | Undated
A small group of highly active accounts can produce and distribute a disproportionate share of misleading political information.
Media and Information Literacy for Combating Digital Hate
The resource explains how education can help users recognize dehumanizing narratives, manipulative messaging, and online hate campaigns.
Internet for Trust
UNESCO’s initiative seeks to protect freedom of expression while addressing misinformation, hate speech, harassment, and other digital harms.
Scams, Fraud, Phishing, and Identity Theft
Social-Media Scams Caused Billions of Dollars in Reported Losses
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | April 27, 2026
FTC data show that social platforms have become major channels for investment fraud, shopping scams, romance scams, and impersonation schemes.
Global Sports Confront AI-Generated Misinformation
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | January 17, 2026
Fabricated quotations, fake announcements, phishing links, and AI-generated scandals are creating reputational and financial risks throughout professional sports.
India Proposes Strict Labeling Rules for AI-Generated Content
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | October 22, 2025
Proposed regulations would require clearer labeling of synthetic content to reduce deepfake fraud and misleading AI-generated media.
Impersonation Scams Are Producing Devastating Losses for Older Adults
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | August 7, 2025
Scammers impersonating government agencies and trusted businesses are convincing older adults to transfer large amounts of money.
Reported U.S. Fraud Losses Reached $12.5 Billion in 2024
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | March 10, 2025
Investment scams, impersonation, deceptive employment offers, and digitally distributed fraud caused record reported consumer losses.
Avoiding Social-Media Scams
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | October 6, 2023
Scammers use targeted advertisements, hacked accounts, fake relationships, and fraudulent investments to exploit social-media users.
Deepfakes and Synthetic Media
| Government Accountability Office | GAO | February 20, 2020
The assessment examines deepfake production, detection technology, potential benefits, and risks involving fraud, national security, and public trust.
How to Recognize and Report Internet Scams
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | Undated
The FTC provides guidance for recognizing impersonation, investment, shopping, romance, employment, and technology-support scams.
How to Avoid a Government Impersonation Scam
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | Undated
Real government agencies generally do not demand immediate payment through cryptocurrency, gift cards, cash couriers, or payment applications.
How to Recognize Phishing
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | Undated
Phishing messages create urgency, imitate familiar organizations, and direct users toward malicious links designed to steal credentials or money.
Digital Safety and Online Security
| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | CISA | Undated
CISA recommends strong passwords, multifactor authentication, software updates, and careful recognition of phishing attempts.
Secure Our World: Recognize and Report Phishing
| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | CISA | Undated
Users should examine unexpected messages carefully, avoid suspicious links, and verify requests through independent contact methods.
Snopes
| Snopes Staff | Snopes | Undated
Snopes investigates urban legends, altered photographs, fabricated quotations, online rumors, scams, and political misinformation.
Digital Safety Resources for Journalists
| Committee to Protect Journalists | CPJ | Undated
The safety kit covers account security, phishing, device protection, online harassment, surveillance, source confidentiality, and emergency preparation.
Surveillance Self-Defense
| Electronic Frontier Foundation | EFF | Undated
EFF explains threat modeling, secure messaging, password protection, phishing defense, metadata, device encryption, and online privacy.
Consumer Advice on Identity Theft
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | Undated
The federal recovery service helps victims report identity theft, create a personal recovery plan, and protect compromised accounts.
ReportFraud.ftc.gov
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | Undated
Consumers can report scams, deceptive businesses, impersonation attempts, and fraudulent digital activity to federal authorities.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | FBI | Undated
IC3 receives reports involving online fraud, ransomware, impersonation, account compromise, investment scams, and other internet-enabled crimes.
Digital Safety, Privacy, and Security
Protecting Personal Information Online
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | Undated
Privacy settings, strong authentication, limited sharing, software updates, and careful account management reduce vulnerability to digital exploitation.
Secure Our World: Use Strong Passwords
| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | CISA | Undated
Long, unique passwords and reputable password managers reduce the damage caused by stolen or reused account credentials.
Secure Our World: Turn On Multifactor Authentication
| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | CISA | Undated
Multifactor authentication provides an additional barrier when criminals obtain or guess a user’s password.
Secure Our World: Update Software
| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | CISA | Undated
Prompt software updates close security vulnerabilities that criminals can exploit to compromise devices and accounts.
Online Harassment Field Manual
| PEN America | PEN America | Undated
The manual provides practical guidance for documenting abuse, protecting accounts, supporting targets, and responding to coordinated harassment campaigns.
Digital Security Helpline
| Access Now | Access Now | Undated
The helpline assists civil-society organizations, journalists, activists, and human-rights defenders facing hacking, account compromise, and digital threats.
Security in a Box
| Front Line Defenders and Tactical Tech | Security in a Box | Undated
The resource provides accessible guidance on passwords, encrypted communication, device security, malware, backups, and safer online behavior.
Fact-Checking and Verification Tools
Media Bias and Fact-Checking Tools
| Cornell University Library | Cornell University | Undated
The guide explains lateral reading, source investigation, evidence checking, and methods for distinguishing reporting from advertising or propaganda.
Civic Online Reasoning
| Digital Inquiry Group | Digital Inquiry Group | Undated
Free lessons teach students to investigate sources, find better coverage, and trace claims, images, and quotations to their original context.
Checkology Virtual Classroom
| News Literacy Project | News Literacy Project | Undated
The interactive platform teaches source evaluation, news judgment, algorithm awareness, and techniques for identifying fabricated material.
MediaWise
| Poynter Institute | Poynter Institute | Undated
MediaWise produces digital-literacy training and fact-checking resources designed for young people, older adults, and first-time voters.
International Fact-Checking Network
| Poynter Institute | Poynter Institute | Undated
The network promotes transparency, nonpartisanship, methodological standards, and accountability among professional fact-checking organizations.
AP Fact Check
| Associated Press | Associated Press | Undated
AP journalists investigate viral claims, manipulated images, misleading political statements, and fabricated stories circulating online.
Reuters Fact Check
| Reuters Fact Check Team | Reuters | Undated
Reuters verifies disputed photographs, videos, quotations, political claims, and social-media narratives using documentary and visual evidence.
PolitiFact
| PolitiFact Staff | PolitiFact | Undated
PolitiFact evaluates statements by politicians, organizations, and social-media users and provides evidence supporting each rating.
FactCheck.org
| Annenberg Public Policy Center | FactCheck.org | Undated
The organization checks political advertisements, speeches, debates, interviews, and viral claims using public records and expert evidence.
Google Fact Check Explorer
Users can search for published fact checks concerning a person, statement, photograph, event, or recurring online claim.
InVID Verification Plugin
| InVID Project | InVID | Undated
The browser tool helps journalists examine video keyframes, conduct reverse-image searches, inspect metadata, and detect visual manipulation.
Health and Climate Misinformation
Health Advice Is All Over Social Media: Here Is How to Vet It
| AP Staff | Associated Press | May 9, 2026
Practical verification strategies include checking professional credentials, looking for scientific evidence, and being cautious about sensational health claims.
Health Literacy
| World Health Organization | WHO | December 22, 2025
Health literacy includes the ability to find, understand, evaluate, and use trustworthy information when making personal and community health decisions.
UNESCO Launches a Course to Counter Climate Disinformation
| UNESCO | UNESCO | July 25, 2025
The course teaches media-literacy skills for evaluating climate claims, recognizing manipulation, and locating credible scientific information.
WHO Reviews Its Fight Against Health Misinformation
| World Health Organization | WHO | December 23, 2024
WHO warns that health misinformation undermines trust in vaccines, science, public-health agencies, and evidence-based emergency responses.
Managing the Infodemic
| World Health Organization | WHO | Undated
WHO recommends checking sources, reading beyond headlines, verifying images, identifying authors, and pausing before sharing health claims.
Policy, Regulation, and Platform Governance
UK Considers Requiring Social Platforms to Prioritize Trusted News
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | June 22, 2026
Britain is considering rules requiring social-media platforms to make verified public-service and trusted news sources easier to find in feeds and search results.
Support Declines for Restricting False or Violent Online Content
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | April 14, 2025
Americans remain divided over whether governments and technology companies should restrict false information when regulation may limit free expression.
FTC Cracks Down on Deceptive AI Claims and Schemes
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | September 25, 2024
Enforcement actions targeted fake reviews, misleading AI services, automated deception, and unsupported claims about AI-powered business opportunities.
FTC Bans Fake Reviews and Testimonials
| Federal Trade Commission | FTC | August 14, 2024
The rule prohibits businesses from creating, buying, or selling fabricated reviews, including reviews generated by artificial intelligence.
UN Global Principles for Information Integrity
| United Nations | United Nations | June 24, 2024
The principles call for societal trust, independent media, healthy incentives, public empowerment, transparency, and stronger information resilience.
Americans’ Social-Media Use
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | January 31, 2024
Despite continuing concerns about misinformation, privacy, and platform governance, most American adults use multiple social networks.
UNESCO Guidelines for Digital Platform Governance
| UNESCO | UNESCO | November 2023
The guidelines call for human-rights-based platform governance, transparency, accountability, independent oversight, and accessible complaint systems.
Disinformation and Misinformation
OECD resources examine information integrity, government communication, independent journalism, platform governance, and democratic resilience.
EU Code of Practice on Disinformation
| European Commission | European Commission | Undated
The code establishes commitments involving advertising transparency, fake accounts, researcher access, fact-checking, and platform risk mitigation.
Digital Services Act and Platform Accountability
| European Commission | European Commission | Undated
The Digital Services Act requires large online platforms to assess systemic risks involving illegal content, manipulation, and public safety.
Information Integrity on Digital Platforms
| United Nations | United Nations | Undated
United Nations resources address hate speech, disinformation, harassment, platform governance, and the protection of a shared factual environment.
Research Centers, Reports, and Reference Resources
UNESCO Strengthens Media and Information Literacy Across Ukraine
| UNESCO | UNESCO | May 13, 2026
UNESCO describes large-scale programs designed to help Ukrainians recognize manipulation, verify information, and resist wartime propaganda.
Jordan Launches a National Media and Information Literacy Strategy
| UNESCO | UNESCO | March 11, 2026
Jordan’s national strategy seeks to build critical media skills, reduce vulnerability to misinformation, and support responsible digital participation.
Kenyan Media Leaders Address Misinformation and Online Violence
| UNESCO | UNESCO | October 20, 2025
Kenyan newsroom leaders received training on misinformation, ethical reporting, inclusive policies, and online gender-based violence.
The Limits of Digital Provenance as a Misinformation Solution
| RAND Authors | RAND Corporation | June 4, 2025
Content credentials can support authentication, but missing metadata and incomplete adoption prevent provenance systems from becoming a complete solution.
Brazilian Leaders Condemn Meta’s Fact-Checking Changes
| Reuters Staff | Reuters | January 9, 2025
Brazilian officials raised concerns that reducing professional fact-checking could weaken safeguards against misinformation and political violence.
Reuters Institute Digital News Report
| Reuters Institute | University of Oxford | 2025
The annual report examines news avoidance, platform use, audience trust, misinformation concerns, subscriptions, video news, and generational change.
A Citizen’s Guide to Disinformation
| Brookings Institution | Brookings Institution | September 3, 2024
The discussion examines why false information spreads, how it damages society, and what individuals and institutions can do in response.
Media Habits and Misinformation Susceptibility Among Older Adults
| RAND Corporation | RAND Corporation | February 28, 2024
Older adults report high concern about misinformation but comparatively little concern that they themselves could be deceived.
Global Risks Report: Misinformation and Disinformation
| World Economic Forum | World Economic Forum | January 10, 2024
The report identifies misinformation and disinformation as major short-term threats to political stability, social cohesion, and public confidence.
Media and Information Literacy
UNESCO provides programs, educational materials, and policy guidance for navigating digital media, countering hate, and evaluating information critically.
Misinformation Research
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | Undated
This research collection covers misinformation, content moderation, public attitudes, fact-checking, and Americans’ ability to evaluate information.
Facts and Fact-Checking Research
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | Undated
Studies explore how people distinguish factual statements from opinions and how partisan identity influences perceptions of truth.
Information Manipulation and Interference
| European External Action Service | European Union | Undated
The European Union documents foreign information manipulation and develops coordinated responses involving research, diplomacy, and public awareness.
European Digital Media Observatory
| European Digital Media Observatory |a EDMO | Undated
EDMO connects researchers, journalists, fact-checkers, and media-literacy specialists studying misinformation across Europe.
First Draft Essential Guides
| First Draft | First Draft | Undated
The archived guides explain verification, information disorder, closed messaging applications, visual misinformation, and responsible reporting practices.
