Misinformation, Disinformation, and Fake News

Developed by Mike Caulfield, SIFT (also known as the four moves), enables individuals to evaluate the trustworthiness of a source in four simple, short steps. 

S-Stop

•  Ask yourself whether you know the website or source of the information, and what the reputation of both the claim and the website is.If you don’t have that information, use the next steps of SIFT to gain a better understanding. Don’t read it or share media until you know what it is, and if it came from a reputable source.


• After you begin to use the other moves it can be easy to go down a rabbit hole, going off on tangents only distantly related to your original task. If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed in your fact-checking efforts, STOP and take a second to remember your purpose.

I- Investigate the source

• You want to know what you’re reading before you read it


• Taking sixty seconds to figure out where media is from before reading will help you decide if it is worth your time, and if it is, help you to better understand its significance and trustworthiness.

F- Find better coverage

• You care about the claim the article is making. You want to know if it is true or false. You want to know if it represents a consensus viewpoint, or if it is the subject of much disagreement. In this case, your best strategy may be to ignore the source that reached you, and look for trusted reporting or analysis on the claim. 


• Find the best source you can on this topic, or, just as importantly, to scan multiple sources and see what the expert consensus seems to be.


• In these cases we encourage you to “find other coverage” that better suits your needs — more trusted, more in-depth, or maybe just more varied. 


• Do you have to agree with the consensus once you find it? Absolutely not! But understanding the context and history of a claim will help you better evaluate it and form a starting point for future investigation.

T- Trace Claims 

• Much of what we find on the internet has been stripped of context. Maybe a claim is made about a new medical treatment based on a research finding — but you’re not certain if the cited research paper really said that.


• In these cases we’ll have you trace the claim, quote, or media back to the source, so you can see it in it’s original context and get a sense if the version you saw was accurately presented.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Source: 2019, Caulfield