Rant: I shared a 'missing child' post for a week before a local news site debunked it

So last month, a photo of a little girl with a plea to share her story was all over my feed. The post said she vanished from a park in Springfield. I hit share, my friends shared it, it felt like helping. Then, the local Springfield news channel ran a segment saying the girl in the photo was safe at home in another state, and the whole post was a scam to harvest profile data. My 'helping' was just spreading fear and helping scammers. I felt so dumb. It tipped me off that I was just reacting, not checking. Now I'm torn. On one side, sharing fast can spread real alerts. On the other, you're just amplifying lies if you don't pause. How do you decide when a post is worth sharing versus when it needs a fact-check first?

3 comments

3 Comments

grantw414d ago

Yeah, the "felt like helping" part is exactly it. I did the same thing with a fake pet adoption plea last year. Now I just assume everything is a scam until I see a legit news source or police department attached.

rowan_barnes4d ago

Even legit news sources get fooled sometimes, sadly.

harris.andrew4d ago

Right? I've gotten to the point where I need to see a news van and a reporter holding a microphone before I believe anything online.