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Stop posting lies on social media!

By Scott Tibbs, March 10, 2017

Here is a smart strategy for deciding what you share on social media: If you see a claim that is designed to generate outrage, look it up and check other reliable sources. Snopes is especially good. This is even more important if the thing you are sharing is designed to generate outrage or anger against a specific person because of something especially outrageous he or she allegedly said or did.

Here is another good rule to follow: If you have an article where any portion of the headline IS IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, it is definitely click-bait. There is also a strong possibility it is misleading or maybe even outright fabricated. If you are on Facebook or Twitter (or any other social media service) you need to stop sharing things that are not true.

Furthermore, you are not permitted to plead ignorance when you share something that is misleading, only partially true or outright fabricated. If you are sharing a "point at something with outrage" (PASWO) link on social media, then you obviously have Internet access and you can double check your source before passing it on to hundreds of people who may then pass on the same lies to hundreds more people. You have no excuse, so stop doing that.

People, this is not difficult. If you do not like fake news, then stop sharing fake news. Start vetting the claims you see before you share them. We will never clean up all of the crap on the Internet, but we can at least stop contributing to the steaming pile of rotting feces that infects our social media news feeds every day.