Stop Spreading Election Misinformation

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Don’t Spread Election Misinformation

With less than two months until Election Day, communities are going to be bombarded with non-stop election-related info—with plenty of misinformation and disinformation mixed in.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make right now is to repeat that misinformation.

Sure, correcting falsehoods may seem like a helpful way to debunk lies. But repeating lies, even when you are trying to discount them, can spread them further.

Why?

Because the more people hear inaccurate information, the more likely they are to believe it. That’s true even if the lies are contradicting facts people already accept as true.

So what can you do?  

Keep reading.

Dealing with Misinformation on Your Beat

Don’t Repeat It

• Don’t repeat misinformation in your stories along with the truth and expect your readers to remember which is which.

  Instead when dealing with election misinformation:

  • Share small screenshots of false social media posts, images, or videos with large X’s across them, indicating that the info is wrong.

  • Then lay out the facts. But don’t invite your readers to view the misinformation by providing links.

  • Avoid quoting any misinformation that comes from an official source.

Get Ahead of It

• Don’t wait for misinformation intended to create mistrust about the electoral process to rear its ugly head.

  Instead:

  • Start now, by publishing helpful explainers about the election process, outlining how rare fraud is. You cannot repeat enough how safe and secure our elections are.

  • Offer as much information as you can about what to expect on election night and when to expect results to be released.

  • Share official election resources early and often so people can find info themselves and share with friends and family.

  • Offer insights into how we can be emotionally manipulated by misinformation and how to spot it. Here are some ways.
    

Investigate the Source

• Be skeptical of information, images, and videos about candidates that don’t come from official sources.

• If you aren’t sure about the source, use tools like reverse image search and Wayback Machine to verify that information is credible before you share it with your audience. Check out more tools from the AFP.

• Show your work to your readers so they know how you debunked falsehoods.
  

Watch Out for AI Fakes

• Learn how to spot AI-generated images, video, and audio, so you don’t share misinformation. Find more information about how spot AI fakes here.

• If you don’t know if an image or video is real, don’t share it.

Good Debunking Examples

No, armed Venezuelan migrants did not take over a Chicago apartment building

Trump falsely claims a crowd photo from Harris’ campaign rally in Detroit was created using AI

Also in the News

Misinformation about JD Vance you shouldn’t repeat

Anti-DEI activist Christopher Rufo headlines conference sponsored by Mastercard, Meta, and Coca-Cola

Four ways Project 2025 could harm Americans’ health

We’re Reading

“Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity”

By Sander van der Linden

Comic Relief

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See You Next Week!

Our Staff

Executive Editor Kyle Spencer

Managing Editor Christen Gall

Our Board of Advisors

Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability

David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy

Connor Gibson, founder of Grassrootbeer Investigations

Maurice Cunningham, retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and author of Dark Money and The Politics of School Privatization.

Reed Gallen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project

Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College, founder of Faculty First Responders and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War

Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe distinguished professor of history and public policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America

Ralph Wilson, founder of the Corporate Genome Project and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War

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