How to spot local misinformation before you share it

"They are breaking into the houses up the hill, pass it on." "The water is being cut off all day tomorrow." "They are closing the health centre."

All three have something in common: they are plausible, urgent and come from someone you trust. Those are exactly the three ingredients of effective misinformation.

Why local claims slip through

We are trained to distrust a sensationalist headline from an outlet we do not know. We are not trained to distrust a message from a neighbour about a street we walk down every day.

Hyperlocal misinformation exploits three things:

• Proximity. If it mentions your neighbourhood, you assume whoever wrote it knows what they are talking about.
• The chain of trust. It does not come from a stranger: it comes from a relative, who got it from a friend. Nobody checks the first link.
• Urgency. "Pass it on" is an instruction designed to make you act before you think.

On top of that, as local press has been disappearing, fewer and fewer people are checking these things professionally. Rumour fills the gap.

Six warning signs

None is conclusive on its own, but if two or three appear together, be sceptical:

1. It asks you to forward it. Real news does not need to ask. Misinformation does: it is its only means of transport.
2. No source, or a vague one. "Someone who works at the council told me" is not a source.
3. No date. Without a date, a message from three years ago looks like today's. It is the most common trick of all.
4. It appeals to fear or outrage. The more a message upsets you, the faster you share it and the less you check it.
5. It is too neat. Exact figures, striking details and no nuance. Reality is almost always greyer.
6. It appears nowhere official. If the water really is being cut off tomorrow, the utility or the council will have published it.

The five thirty-second checks

You do not need to be a journalist. These knock out the vast majority:

1. Look for the official source

If the notice is municipal, it must be on the council's website. If it concerns a utility, on the company's site. Thirty seconds of searching settles almost everything.

2. Check the date

Search for a literal phrase from the message. If it turns up in results from two years ago, there you have it: recycled misinformation. It happens every summer with the same alerts.

3. See whether any local outlet reports it

If it were true and relevant, some outlet in your area would have published it. Total silence across all local press is a very strong signal.

4. Verify the photo

Images are reused mercilessly. A reverse image search usually reveals the picture is from another city, or from years ago.

5. Ask about the first link in the chain

"Where did you get this?" If nobody in the chain can answer, there is no origin. And without an origin, there is no story.

If you already shared it

It happens. What matters is what you do next:

• Correct it where you shared it, not privately. If it went to the group, the correction goes to the group.
• Do it quickly. The first few hours are what count.
• Link the official source that disproves it, rather than just saying it was false.
• Keep it low-key. The more matter-of-fact the correction, the more people accept it without getting defensive.

The best defence against neighbourhood misinformation is not distrusting everything: it is having good information to hand. When you know where to look, rumour loses most of its power. That is what this other guide is about.