Guides

Guides to spotting misinformation

Free, practical guides to checking what you read, watch and share. No jargon, no sign-up — just the techniques fact-checkers actually use, and plain-English explainers of the claims that come up most.

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How to check what you read

Step-by-step techniques you can apply to any article, post or clip.

How to Fact-Check a News Article Yourself

A repeatable routine for sanity-checking a story in a few minutes — the source, the claims, the evidence and the context.

Lateral Reading: How Professional Fact-Checkers Verify Claims

The single most useful habit: leave the page and check what the rest of the web says about a source before you trust it.

10 Red Flags That a News Story Might Be Misleading

Ten warning signs — from outrage headlines to vague sourcing — that mean it's worth slowing down and checking.

How to Tell If a Scientific Study Is Trustworthy

Study types, sample size, peer review, funding and the gap between a finding and the headline written about it.

How to Verify a Viral Video or Social Clip

Most "fake" videos are real footage stripped of context. Here's how to find the original and check what's really going on.

How to Spot AI-Generated Text, Images and News

The tells, why detection tools are unreliable, and why verifying the claims matters more than guessing who wrote it.

Primary vs Secondary Sources, and Why It Matters

How claims degrade as they're retold, and why tracing one back to its original source protects you.

How to Read a Statistic Without Being Fooled

Relative vs absolute risk, missing base numbers, dodgy averages and misleading graphs — in plain English.

Claims explained

Measured, evidence-based looks at the claims and tactics that come up most.

Detox and "Flushing Toxins": What the Evidence Says

What "detox" teas and cleanses actually do, how the body really clears waste, and where the evidence runs out.

Common Protein and Nutrition Myths, Fact-Checked

Protein needs, "anabolic windows", superfoods and carbs at night — the claims versus the consensus.

Cardio vs Strength Training: Claims vs Evidence

The fat-burning zone, "cardio kills gains", afterburn and metabolism — sorted from the evidence.

Why Misinformation Spreads Faster Than Corrections

Novelty, emotion, algorithms and the backfire problem — and what actually helps slow the spread.

Understanding Bias: Outlet Bias vs Factual Accuracy

Why slant and accuracy are different things, and how to judge a story on its sourcing rather than its side.

A Glossary of Misinformation Terms

Misinformation vs disinformation, cherry-picking, strawman, false balance, astroturfing and more — defined simply.