“That’s how intelligent people do it.

Before I post anything, I make sure that I am not mixing up facts with emotions. I like to use Google to ensure that I am not spreading misinformation. We need to understand that some people take action based on the information they get on social media. When they act on false information, the implications can be far-reaching.

Personally, this is how I fact-check any information that I come across:

1. I search for the “keyword” on Twitter to see what others are saying about it. If it is about something popular, it should already be trending on Twitter.
2. If it is a news item, I search for it on reputable local and international news websites such as Punch, Channels, and BBC.
3. If it is an image, I do a reverse image search on Google. This helps me find out if the image has been used somewhere else before and when it was first posted on the internet.
4. If it is specialized information, I ask myself which body or organization should be responsible for releasing such information. For instance, any information about the coronavirus in Nigeria that I can’t find on the NCDC website is likely false.

As a rule of thumb:

1. I consider every broadcast message I receive on WhatsApp as false by default.
2. I see news items posted only on a random blog that I haven’t heard of before as false by default too.
3. No disrespect to the guys at Opera, but any information I see on Opera News is considered false by default until it has been corroborated by other popular mainstream media.
4. On social media, there are people whose information I always take with a pinch of salt. Reno Omokri is one of them, no apologies!

That’s how I fact-check information.

How do you do it?”