The rise of social media continues to allow virtually every citizen a platform to provide their views to those elected to office and those running for office.  That engagement makes our system of government more democratic.  But how do we know if their information is provided is, in fact, accurate and true?

As consumers of news and data, we live in a world where we must question the authenticity of every statement and the source of the information.  This is unfortunate, because our trust in fellow citizens declines and confidence in government officials is reduced by “fake news” put into the social media sewer to taint the motivation and results of actions by elected officials. 

Two recent examples bring this issue into focus.  The first is a tweet offered by political scientist Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group: ‘President Trump in Tokyo: Kim Jong Uh is smarter and would make a better President than Sleepy Joe Biden’, apparently in response to the President’s earlier tweet about Biden.  Bremmer later apologized for he quote, saying it was meant in “jest.”

But, by then, two political advocates, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and CNN Contributor Ana Navarro-Caremas shared it, according to the Washington Examiner.

It was fake.  And the apology was too late to stop Anti-Trump Twitter followers who retweeted the comments with glee.  

Those who enjoy making the life of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) difficult got their turn at “fake news” by using digital technology to slow down a video recoding of the Speaker to give the illusion she was intoxicated.  YouTube has taken the video down.  Facebook has kept the video up for those using their social media platform but put context around the video to provide people more detail when they consume it.  Slowing down of video isn’t new but it now will be applied to many taped political moments.

Moreover, we can expect all sides will engage heavily in using every tool in their bag of tricks to smear their opponent or to create a false narrative or pump up the achievements of their candidate.

Iran has also gotten into the ‘fake news” game as they tested some social media posts in the 2018 election.  I suspect Iran will make a bigger and smarter commitment to influence our elections in 2020.

Here’s some ways we can combat these “fake media” efforts:

1.  Minimize consumption of politics on social media.  Let us not get into worthless Twitter battles or let politics consume our every waking moment.  We could just ignore it all.

2.  Look for a third-party fact checker we can rely on to filter the news and information to determine real news from ‘fake news.”  This solution sounds appealing but there is a lot of subjectivity still used by fact checkers.  Often, they are unable to be nonpartisan themselves and use “fact checking’ as a political tool to undermine opponents.

3.  Assume everything we hear or read is “fake news” until there is a substantial volume of evidence supporting the conclusion drawn or we have found evidence of sound reasoning in other venues.   It is contrary to our modern, hectic world, but we might need to learn to wait before we draw conclusions or make judgments.  We hate waiting but increasingly there are examples of people being manipulated by so-called facts.   

4. Recognize that there are satire and spoof social media accounts. These social media accounts are created to be humorous, but casual onlookers may treat them as factual. This was the case with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – NY and an “AOC” spoof account. The content may not be factual, but it is not maliciously fake either.

We can expect more “fake news” in 2020.  We must be prepared for how we handle it.

David Rehr is Professor and Director of the Center for Civic Engagement at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

Joshua Habursky is Head of Federal Affairs International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association and Adjunct Professor George Washington University.