In today’s video newsletter, I’m walking you through the steps I personally took to try to verify a stolen election theory making its way around the Internet, especially because I saw it was increasingly being shared by people I personally know who are intelligent, savvy people.
TL;DR: I try to verify or validate:
People: Searches, LinkedIn, Bios, etc.
Phrases: Search on unique phrases, especially when they’re positioned as expert jargon.
Photos: Reverse image search is your friend
Some links to what I mention.
My Facebook post, outlining some of these steps.
The FactCheck.org factcheck on the whole Starlink theory.
The first 12 minutes of this are the steps I took to fact-check the theory, and what I found when I did.
The final 9 minutes also talks about WHY would someone be interested in starting/propagating such a theory if it is not true.
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of people are sharing it *now* because they want to believe it’s true, and they want it to somehow save us.
But I don’t believe that’s how this conspiracy theory started.
And why am I going to such lengths to share this with you?
Because these steps are pretty easy, and I want to give you insight into how to check something yourself when something strikes you as either a) That *cannot* be true or b) That seems *too good to be true*.
Because there are real problems around voting that we can and should talk about and focus on…voter suppression, repression, and depression are all real things we can push back on.
Because like clockwork, so many people sharing this theory are mad not at the people who executed on it (supposedly) but on the side they purportedly want to have won for not challenging or fighting it. And I’d just like to push back on this narrative.
Hope it’s an interesting peek into my own personal process for verifying what I see before I share it.
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