Stop the spread: how to spot and stop misleading information on social media

How are you getting your news these days? If you’re like 62% of young Canadians aged 15-24, you’re likely turning to social media. Considering that 91% of young people are on social media, it’s not surprising. But it is worrisome.

With Meta’s (the parent company that owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads) move away from fact checking, misleading information is gaining momentum on social media.

If platforms like Meta and X (formerly Twitter) aren’t systematically checking the facts, it’s up to you to do it. But how? Managing both misinformation and disinformation effectively requires a combination of understanding, questioning and verifying.

Making sense of misleading information

There are two types of misleading information commonly found online. Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread without any malicious intent. Disinformation is different.

According to canada.ca, disinformation is false information deliberately intended to mislead a reader. Some ways to spot potential disinformation include:

• It tries to manufacture a strong emotional response (typically negative or even catastrophic).
• It uses satire in place of fact (memes are a great example).
• It makes bold or extreme statements on controversial issues (remember the recent election).
• It offers clickbait in the form of misleading headlines, images, or videos (e.g., "Taylor spotted wearing a ring on her recent vacation.").
• It promotes claims that are too good to be true (e.g., "Get in shape in only 15 minutes a day with these three exercises!").

Generative AI has taken mis- and disinformation to the next level. Deep fakes (video, images or audio created by AI that appear real and credible) are getting more sophisticated and harder to spot. Fake accounts and bots amplify both types of misleading information and make it seem like there is a lot of support for questionable points of view.

According to an annual survey by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), one in 10 Canadians report having liked, shared or re-shared fake, misleading or untrue content. Twenty per cent of those surveyed have encountered deep fakes.

Building resilience

Recent research highlights how Canadians interact with online misinformation, revealing both challenges and opportunities in building digital resilience. In April 2025, MediaSmarts, Canada’s Centre for Digital Media Literacy, released its report, Motives and Methods: Building Resilience to Online Misinformation in Canada.

Surveying 5,000 Canadians, the organization wanted to understand, “how Canadians check and share information online, and to find the best ways to help them recognize and respond to online misinformation.”

There are six key findings in the report, which can help you reflect on your own skills in spotting and stopping misleading information on social media.

• Respondents had trouble recognizing what was true and what wasn’t. They often relied on their intuition or guesswork.
• Many respondents trust information if it comes from well-known publications, experts or reliable people in their personal networks.
• There is limited knowledge of fact-checking tools and how to access them – even popular ones like Snopes.
• Many believe they are good at spotting misinformation but also find the fact checking process overwhelming.
• Less than half of respondents believe they could identify an AI-generated image, and many struggled to do so when presented with a fake image.
• Adults 55+ are more likely to believe false information and feel less confident than younger participants about their abilities to identify misinformation or fake images.

While these findings highlight the challenges in identifying misleading information, there are practical steps you can take to become a more discerning digital citizen.

Verify, verify, verify

Critical thinking is the first step in combatting misleading information. MediaSmarts, as part of its Break the Fake program, suggests three questions you can ask yourself to make sure you’re thinking critically.

• What do I already know or believe about this topic?
• Why do I want to believe it?
• What would make me change my mind?

Once you’re thinking critically, it’s also necessary to verify information. There are several popular fact checking tools that are easy to use.

Google Fact Check aggregates data from credible tools including Snopes, Politifact and FactCheck.org. To reverse image search a photo or video, you can use Google Reverse Image Search or TinEye. MediaSmarts also offers a fact checker in the form of a search engine that lets users search more than eight fact checking tools at once.

The Teen Fact Checking Network is an excellent resource for adults and kids. Started in 2018 by MediaWise in the U.S., the Canadian arm brings teenagers together to learn about digital media literacy with a focus on fact checking skills. The network has expanded to countries including Brazil, Germany, India, Spain and Bulgaria.

The teens produce fact checking videos on viral claims about topics ranging from the environment, health and science to food, beauty, products and social media trends. They present the claim and then detail the tools and approaches they used to determine whether the claim was fact or fake.

Social media allows us to connect, create community, learn, laugh and expand our thinking about what's possible. However, it's also a platform where misinformation and disinformation continue to spread. Thinking critically helps you distinguish fake from fact, and fact-checking tools provide the evidence. Not sharing questionable content and reporting misleading information can help stop its spread. With improved digital literacy around mis- and disinformation, you can help keep social media a fun, positive and informative place. Ready to test your knowledge on dealing with misleading information? Take this interactive quiz.