I’ve tweeted about this a couple of times, but while we’re all waiting - the next few days are going to result in a lot of wild social media rumors.

Here are questions to ask yourself before RTing.

(My credentials: I study global security/intelligence @ Johns Hopkins)

1. If a person is claiming they have insight into a race/vote total, what is their background?

Do they work in a field (e.g. local reporter), or are they an official source?

2. Can they verify their ID outside of Twitter?

3. Does their information have more than one source?

If not, are there indicators (e.g. a vote total which looks like it can’t be surmounted) that is leaning towards that logical conclusion anyway?

If no one else has it, no one respected in the field is sharing it, can you hold off on sharing it, until there’s confirmation?

4. If it’s a quote being attributed to someone and making the rounds (e.g. a quote claiming we’ve won or lost a race!), can you find the original source before sharing?

E.g. Is it a news article? Is it an interview clip?

Once you read/watch the source, is that what’s actually being said, or is it an interpretation?

5. If a weird image/profile claiming to be XYZ about a race comes across your feed, have you tried using reverse image tools to see if it’s a stolen pic/legitimate profile?

6. If a story sounds wild and is trending, have you tried cutting and pasting the post/tweet into search, and seeing if it’s being amplified by bots?

If multiple accounts are tweeting the exact same thing, it’s worth questioning if it’s a real story.

As always, also cross-check what you’re seeing on social media against fact-checking websites:

1. Reuters fact-checking: https://reuters.com/fact-check 
2. Snopes: https://snopes.com 
3. Politifact: https://politifact.com 

And remember to be critical. Don’t just RT. Vet first.