It seems difficult to combat fake news on social media when our personal biases lead us to believe it, when algorithms present us with exactly what we want to hear, and when our favorite influencers tell us in a compelling and confident way.

What can we do as social media users to develop a more critical eye? How can schools contribute to raising citizens with greater awareness in this regard? How should media outlets and disseminators act to curb fake news?

Although young people are often singled out as one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to believing fake news, no segment of the population is immune to falling prey to populism. Not even Communications students, as a recent study revealed . Even teachers, as an informal survey on the social network X indicates, are victims of misinformation. No one is safe from believing fake news.

⁉️ Hoy, en el #DebateDominguero de vuestras #CharlasEducativas, nos hacemos eco del Space de esta tarde y os preguntamos:
¿Te has creído alguna vez una noticia falsa?

— Ingrid Mosquera (@imgende) May 4, 2025

The three key questions

Before we hit the share button, throw up our hands, or think to ourselves, “What I was afraid of,” let’s ask ourselves these three basic questions:

1. Who is spreading the news? We should try to access the source, and it’s recommended that you don’t do so through the link in the publication itself, but rather through the media outlet’s website. We should also be very careful with links to fake news, which can carry other types of dangers.

2. Can it be found in other media? If it’s important news, it won’t appear exclusively in one publication. Turning to alternative sources is one of the preferred methods for many people who want to verify the veracity of information. We can search for it on Google or other search engines. It’s not enough to search the same social network or other social networks; we can also search other media outlets, whether digital or analog.

3. When is the publication from? Sometimes, when a news story comes out about a trending, current, or interesting topic, some people or media outlets take advantage of the hype to include past news, from months or years prior, to bring it back to the table. This is also a form of misinformation: we are led to believe that something just happened, when in fact it may have happened years ago. You have to look for the date on the publication. The news story may be true or false, but it may have been republished at a specific time to divert attention or blur the current situation.

Four complementary questions

1. Is there a strange photo or image included? Some news stories on social media are accompanied by images created by artificial intelligence. Our first recommendation might be to follow our instincts. Some images are so unlikely and shocking that they immediately catch our attention, and perhaps because of that, we should quarantine the information and investigate further. In any case, as with the news itself, we must be equally critical when filtering images, audio, and videos, which may also be created by AI.

2. Is your headline biased? Let’s analyze whether it’s an objective headline or simply an attention-grabbing one. We should never limit ourselves to headlines; we should always go one step further.

3. Is it news we agree with? Social media is governed by algorithms and filled with bots that encourage us to see what we want to see. Social media tends to agree with us. And agreeing with us doesn’t mean we’re right or that what we read is true. It simply means that the algorithm presents us with what might attract our attention, and that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s real news.

4. Is the information on a complex topic easy to understand? We tend to believe what we understand. Or, on the contrary, when we come across news or information that uses complicated scientific terms, we tend to think it must be true because it’s backed by a university or a so-called specialist. We don’t trust that the information is true, that the center or institution exists, or that the specialist is who they are . Both “oversimplification” and “overtechnicalization” are very useful strategies to make us believe that what we see is true.

And if it is not enough

If, despite all this, we still have doubts, we can discuss the news in class or at home: debating and reflecting on a topic helps us discern its veracity. Before spreading news that could hurt or harm others or contribute to misinformation, we should always think twice . Users are the second barrier to the spread of hoaxes. The first, of course, is the people or media outlets that create and share the news in the first place.

We must also remember that social media can also be a very useful tool when it comes to debunking fake news. In this sense, sites like Maldita.es not only help debunk hoaxes but also offer very useful resources for the classroom . Likewise, listening to podcasts with debates on the topic, as well as participating in or attending events related to the ethical aspect of dissemination, can help us reflect and become more aware of all the aspects we must consider when dealing with news on social media.

Author Bio: Ingrid Mosquera Gende is Full Professor. Principal Investigator of the TEKINDI Research Group at UNIR – International University of La Rioja