Before you share, react to, or act on a piece of information — pause. The single most effective intervention against misinformation is a thirty-second delay between encountering a claim and doing anything with it.
Who originally published this? Not who shared it — who made the claim? A credible person citing expertise? A website you've never heard of? An account created last month? Don't evaluate the claim yet. Evaluate the claimant.
If the claim is real, other sources will be reporting it. Search for the underlying claim — not the article. If a major event is reported by only one source or one political orientation, that's a signal. Multiple outlets with different perspectives reporting the same core facts means the ground is more solid.
If a claim cites a study, find the study. If it quotes a person, find the original quote in context. If it references a document, find the document. Most misinformation is real information stripped of context, reframed, or selectively quoted. Following the chain to the original source reveals what was left out.
Leave the source to check what other sources say about it — rather than reading deeper into the source itself. Professional fact-checkers consistently outperform PhD-level experts at evaluating information. This is why.