A. Literacy Connections and Applications · Literacy for Life: Transferable Skills, Digital Media Literacy and Diverse Voices

Research and Information Literacy I: Misinformation, Disinformation and Verifying Claims

A2 A2.3About 70 minutes

Learning goals

I can distinguish misinformation, disinformation and malinformation, and explain why the difference matters.
I can identify common forms of false or misleading content, including misleading context, manipulated media and AI-generated media.
I can verify a claim using lateral reading, tracing to the original and reverse image search.
I can evaluate a source for accuracy, credibility and perspective before I use it in research.

Words to know

misinformation
False or misleading information shared without the intent to deceive (the sharer believes it).

disinformation
False information created or spread on purpose to deceive, often for money, power or influence.

malinformation
True information shared to cause harm, such as leaking someone's private details.

accuracy
Whether information is correct and matches the evidence.

credibility
Whether a source deserves trust: expertise, track record, transparency, editorial standards.

lateral reading
Leaving a source to check what other reliable sources say about it and its claims.

deepfake
Realistic fake video, audio or images made with artificial intelligence to show someone saying or doing something they did not.

Remember from Grade 8

In Grade 8 you evaluated sources for currency, credibility, bias and accuracy, used the SIFT moves (Stop; Investigate the source; Find better coverage; Trace claims to the original), and noticed filter bubbles. Grade 9 asks you to conduct research with these tools, with a special focus on misinformation and disinformation and on perspectives: whose view a source represents.

Let's start with a polar bear

A post appears in your feed: a photo of a polar bear walking past a row of houses, with the caption "Polar bear spotted in Thunder Bay this morning!! Stay inside!!" It has 8 000 shares. Your cousin lives in Thunder Bay.

Is it true? How would you find out in under two minutes? By the end of this lesson, you'll know.

Three kinds of information disorder

Researchers sort false and harmful information by two questions: Is it false? and Is it meant to deceive or harm?

Misinformation is false, but the person sharing it believes it. Your uncle forwards a fake health tip because he wants to help.
Disinformation is false on purpose. Someone invents a story to make money from clicks, to sell a product, or to influence what people think or how they vote.
Malinformation is true but used to harm: leaking someone's address, or sharing a real private message to embarrass them.

The difference matters because the response differs: a gentle correction for your uncle; reporting and not amplifying disinformation; protecting the person targeted by malinformation. Note that misinformation often starts as disinformation: someone invents it, then honest people share it.

Two questions sort information disorder: Is it false? and Is it shared to deceive or harm? Notice that malinformation is true but harmful.

Common forms of false or misleading content

Fabricated content: completely made up, sometimes on fake websites designed to look like real news sites.
Misleading context: a real photo, video or quotation with a false caption, date or place. This is one of the most common kinds.
Manipulated content: a real image or video that has been edited (cropped to hide something, sped up, combined).
AI-generated media and deepfakes: realistic images, voices and videos created by AI. Clues can include odd hands, warped text, strange lighting or a voice with unnatural pauses, but clues aren't proof; tracing is.
Imposter content: fake accounts or sites pretending to be a real person or organization.
Satire mistaken for news: jokes from a humour site shared as if they were real.
Misleading statistics: real numbers presented unfairly, like choosing only the data that supports one side (cherry-picking).

False content spreads fast because it is often new, surprising and emotional, and algorithms reward posts people react to strongly.

Verifying a claim: your toolkit

Stop and notice your emotion. Strong feelings (fear, anger, "I knew it!") are a cue to slow down.
Read laterally. Open a new tab. Search the claim, the account or the website. What do reliable sources (established news organizations, official agencies, experts) say?
Trace to the original. Find the first appearance of the photo, quotation or statistic. Is the original context the same?
Reverse image search. Most search engines let you upload an image or its link to see where it appeared before.
Check the date, place and details. Do the weather, signs, licence plates and season match the claim?
Practise click restraint. On a search results page, don't just click the first result; scan the list and pick the most credible source.
Fact-checking organizations may have already checked a viral claim; search the claim plus the words fact check.

A real photo with a new, false caption (misleading context). Reverse image search traced it back to an earlier post from another place.

Worked example

Let's verify the polar bear post

Use the toolkit to decide whether the "Polar bear in Thunder Bay this morning" post is true. (The post is invented for this lesson.)

Stop: "Stay inside!!" is designed to make us worried and share fast. Slow down.
Investigate the account: it was created last month and posts only viral animal photos. No connection to Thunder Bay, police or wildlife officials.
Find better coverage: search polar bear Thunder Bay. No local news outlet, police service or the province's wildlife officials report it. A real sighting in a city would be reported widely and quickly.
Trace the image: a reverse image search shows the same photo posted in 2018 by a photographer in Churchill, Manitoba, a town known for polar bears passing through in the fall.
Check details: the houses in the photo have snow piled high, but the post is from a warm week with no snow in Thunder Bay.

The photo is real, but the caption is false: this is misleading context. Whoever wrote the caption may have been spreading disinformation for clicks; people sharing it to warn friends are spreading misinformation. Don't share it; if you want, reply to your cousin with the original source.

Accuracy, credibility and perspective

When you research for an essay or presentation, check every source in three ways.

Accuracy: Is it correct? Do other reliable sources agree? Are numbers and quotations traceable?
Credibility: Who made it, and do they deserve trust? Look for expertise, an editorial process, a corrections policy, transparency about funding, and a track record.
Perspective: Whose point of view is this? Whose experiences are centred, and whose are missing? A credible source can still represent only one perspective. For example, an article about a new highway that quotes only the construction company is credible about the schedule but incomplete about effects on nearby communities, farmers or a First Nation whose territory it crosses. Good research looks for multiple perspectives, including from the people most affected.

Check	Questions to ask	Warning sign
Accuracy	Can I trace the claim to its original? Do other reliable sources agree?	No sources, or sources that don't say what the text claims
Credibility	Who made this? What is their expertise? Is there an editorial process and corrections policy?	Anonymous author, no 'About' page, hidden funding
Perspective	Whose view is this? Who is affected but not quoted?	Only one side or one group's voice on a complex issue

Three checks for every research source.

Reliable for what?

A source can be accurate but one-sided, or credible but out of date. Don't sort sources into just "good" and "bad": explain what each one is reliable for.

Just for fun

Funny-but-true: a famous saying, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes," is often credited to Mark Twain. Quotation researchers have found no reliable evidence he ever said it. So the quotation about misinformation is itself... misattributed!

Hands-on activity

Fact-check a claim with your family

You need: a device with internet access, a grown-up, paper and a pencil.

Ask someone at home for something they've heard recently that surprised them (a health tip, an animal fact, a news story, a "did you know" from social media). Or pick a viral post from a feed.
Write the claim in one sentence.
Apply the toolkit: notice emotion, read laterally, trace to the original, reverse image search if there's a picture, check details, search [claim] fact check.
Record at least three sources you checked, with who made each one.
Decide: true, false, misleading or not enough evidence. Explain your verdict to your family member in 30 seconds.

What to look for: the claim stated precisely, lateral reading (not just reading the original post), a traced original if possible, and a verdict that matches the evidence. "Not enough evidence" is a perfectly good verdict.

Your turn

Define misinformation, disinformation and malinformation.

A real photo from a 2021 flood is posted with the caption "Happening now!" What form of misleading content is this?

What is lateral reading?

Why does false content often spread faster than corrections?

Name two clues that something might be AI-generated, and explain why clues aren't enough.

What three ways should you check a research source?

What is click restraint?

More practice: warm-up

True or false: misinformation is always shared by people trying to trick you.

What tool helps you find where a photo first appeared?

What is a deepfake?

What should you do when a post makes you feel very angry or scared?

What two words can you add to a search to find existing checks of a viral claim?

More practice: on your own

Someone shares a classmate's real home address in a group chat to "get back at" them. Which type of information disorder is this, and why?

A health website quotes one doctor saying a supplement "cures colds". It sells the supplement. Evaluate it for credibility and perspective.

A news article about a new mine includes interviews with the company, the town mayor and two local workers. Whose perspectives might be missing?

Explain why a satirical news headline can become misinformation.

Your search for a statistic shows a blog, a government statistics agency and a social media post. Which do you click first, and why?

Challenge

A video appears to show a well-known Canadian athlete saying she is quitting her sport. Describe four specific verification steps you would take, in order, and what each could reveal.

"Credible sources are always unbiased." Evaluate this claim.

Explain why the same piece of false information can be disinformation for one person and misinformation for another. Use an example.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Someone invents a fake news story to earn money from ad clicks. This is:

A real photo is shared with a false date and place. This is:

What does lateral reading mean?

Which is the best evidence that an image is being used out of context?

Malinformation is information that is:

An article quotes only a company about a project that affects a nearby community. The main weakness is:

Why are clues like odd hands not enough to prove an image is AI-generated?

For parents and teachers

What this lesson teaches: A2.3 asks students to conduct research while considering accuracy, credibility and perspectives, with a focus on misinformation, disinformation and curated information. This lesson covers the misinformation and disinformation part; the next lesson covers curated information and using research ethically.

How to help: Do the fact-check activity with a claim from your own life. Model saying "I'm not sure that's true; let's check" and "I was wrong about that." Avoid political arguments; the skill is the method, not winning a debate.

Common difficulties: assuming a source is either totally good or totally bad; deciding something is fake just because it looks strange; forgetting to look for missing perspectives. The polar bear example is invented; it's fine to tell your teen that polar bears do really visit Churchill, Manitoba.