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PRT - Proactive Research - General
Guideline Outline V.2.1 (External)

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Purpose: The purpose of Proactive Research is to have participants proactively research and
find content for evaluation that are likely misinformation on social media for data collection.
I.) Methodology:
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1.) Near match Fact Checks
2.) Current/trending events
● Recommend use to inform searches for hashtags and on known misinfo pages
3.) Repeat sources of Misinformation
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4.) Other sources/methodologies

These are example methodologies, but you are encouraged to use what works the best to find
misinformation. If you find a methodology that works for you but not mentioned on the
guidelines, please enter a summary of your steps in the comments section of the provided
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form/tool.

**Please note that the recency of submissions has changed from in the last 14 days to
the last 7 days. **

We are looking for content submissions from Facebook/Instagram that are recent (less than 7
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days) and that focus to identify viral misinformation, particularly clear hoaxes that have no
basis in fact and are consequential. PRT should not submit content with claims that are
inconsequential or contain minor inaccuracies. Additionally, the program should not submit
content that consists solely individual expression, opinions and debate, clearly satirical or
humorous content, or business disputes.

o For example, PRT should prioritize the following types of claims:

§ Claims about use or effects of medicine
§ Claims about products or jobs that could risk major financial loss
§ Claims about an election or crisis

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 § Claims targeting particular ethnic, social or religious groups o

Examples of types of claims that PRT generally should not rate include: §

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Celebrity gossip or entertainment news

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§ Quotes misattributed to historical figures
§ Media manipulated for entertainment

Attributes of highly consequential content may entail, but not limited to:
● Videos or posts with at least 15 or more reshares, likes, or other interactions

78 n● Content that is likely to get picked up by major platforms

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To successfully find a qualified post, you must find a social media posting that is

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misinformation and list out the following:
● A confirmation that the post does not have an existing false information/ missing
context/ altered photo overlay on it
● A confirmation the content was posted within the last 7 days
● A confirmation the post has at least 15 or more shares or interactions
● A confirmation you have not previously submitted the same job
● Post Link

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● Claim
● Evidence Link
● Summary
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Please note that steps 5-7 do not show until these four questions are properly
completed. However, you MUST complete all seven questions before submitting the
post.
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nf
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How to gather jobs for evaluation

Using a Google search, identify some trending topics by

● Looking at the news tab of Google
● Examining the search results

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 ● trying a few topical search terms
● And/or looking for trending hashtags

Conduct a general search on social media or determine some pages and/or public posters that

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are prone to misleading, and with trending topics in mind, browse these low-quality pages for

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potential content.

Repeat Sources of Misinformation Methodology

❖ Step 1: Using prior knowledge or resources available to research this online, browse
some sites known for fact-checking misinformation

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❖ Step 2: Go to hyper-partisan pages or public content providers who are known for
advancing misinformation and browse their pages for potential content

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Current/Trending Events Methodology
❖ Step 1: To find content for evaluation, visit Google, YouTube, fact checkers, or other
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news sites to look for trending/viral political content and select a topic for potential
misinfo
❖ Step 2: Go to Facebook and/or Instagram and use the internal searches to look for the
topic, browse results for potential posts
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Hypothetical US Example:
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 1. Browse PolitiFact for recent viral claims.

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2. Decide on a central claim for a search on Facebook or Instagram: Obama tweeted that
someone should check that Trump does not have a Russian birth certificate.

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3. Locate a post of that content that was posted within the last three months and DOES
NOT have an existing false flag on it. (See below)

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nf
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4. Consult your evidence article:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/apr/05/facebook-posts/no-obama-didnttweet-
trump-might-have-russian-birt/

5. Read and evaluate the claim and fill in the corresponding ADAP questions.

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 Exclusions Example Section

III.) What shouldn't be evaluated:

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1. Official Accounts: Elected and appointed officers, Political Parties, and its leaders. Any

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content on their FB and IG account should not be evaluated. An infographic with watermark
by a politician.

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2. Private (non-public) Content
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 3. Non-viral content

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4. Satire and Opinion (e.g., I wish we could change the voting dates to other days like the 5th
and 14th since I can't stand the other party. We need to impeach Joe Biden. Bolsonaro is
the closest thing to a 21st century Nazi we have seen).
a. If there is no central claim that can be falsified, as is the case of this opinion post
below, the post is excluded from evaluation.
nf
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 5. Rumors that are not fact-checkable: (e.g., Country electoral process is corrupt…)
a. The following post has many allegations; however, there are no official convictions or
definitive words on the statements. For rumor or opinion content when there are no

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objective and clear answers, the content should be excluded.

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nf
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 6. Graphic violence/ nudity/ hate speech/ bullying/ PII are supported by other workstreams
7. Celebrity gossip or entertainment news

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a. The following is a false claim that has evidence but this is inconsequential

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celebrity gossip that is not valid for submission. https://www.snopes.com/fact-

check/kate-bush-never-seen-hill/

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nf
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8. Quotes misattributed to historical figures

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 a. Despite this being a false claim with evidence, it is also not a valid

submission for the project

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nf

9. Media manipulated for entertainment.

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a. The following is clearly satirical and meant strictly as humor and would not be a
valid submission for a photo authenticity claim.

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IV.) Standard for Job Submission

1. Some or all the claims, content, or other information must be: (i) factually incorrect;
and/or (ii) depict, portray, or represent events, occurrences, or situations that are
factually incorrect.
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2. There must be existing evidence refuting the content.

AND
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3. The post, if taken seriously, may impact the health, well-being, decision making process,
world, or political views, or it may contribute the dissemination of inaccurate information
to anyone viewing the content.
Or
4. The post, if taken seriously, may interfere with the voting process or lead to voter
manipulation.

Examples of potentially impactful content include (but is not limited to)

1. Misinformation about crimes committed by a specific religious or

ethnic group.
2. Misinformation about wrongdoing of those with a specific political
affiliation.
3. Inaccurate information about activity at the border.

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 4. Inaccurate information about media manipulation or coverups.
5. Misinformation about government agenda or actions.
6. Please note the list of post types of this nature is exponential.

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a. General inaccurate information contributing to an ill-informed public

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i. General inaccurate information.
ii. Examples of general inaccurate information, include, but are
limited to:
1. News about Russia/Ukraine that is inaccurate.
2. Inaccurate information about climate change.
3. General false claims such as “this is video of a person appearing
in the clouds”.

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Social media can play a key role in informing the public about the voting process or candidate
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choice, as such, we are providing an expanded guidance section on civic content.
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Expanded Explanations for Civic/Political Content

1) Voter Manipulation
i) “Voter Manipulation” means a post is likely to directly contribute to
influencing people's decisions on how to vote in election or voting
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processes.
ii) Examples of Vote Manipulation, include, but are not limited to:
(1) Altered front pages from legitimate media that adds fake content
(2) Fake flyers to join campaign rallies that also called to action. *$2
to get vaccinated*
(3) Misinfo against a candidate (e.g., candidate was arrested five
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times)
(4) Altered pictures -
(5) (Altering photos to show larger attendance to rallies)
(6) Fake photos showing candidates with other people (fake photos of
candidates with criminals
(7) Fake announcement of death of a candidate
(8) Fake poll results
(9) Fake translations: (e.g., fake subtitles from another country that
looks official to spread fake news)
a. Voter Suppression
i. “Voter Suppression” means a post that is likely to directly contribute to
discouraging, inhibiting, making more difficult, or preventing people from
rightfully participating in election or voting processes.

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 ii. Examples of Voter Suppression, include, but are limited to:
4. Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for
voting, voter registration, or census participation.
5. Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting,

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whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials

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must be provided in order to vote.
6. Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
7. Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what
information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
8. Content falsely claiming that the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
9. Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or

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process.
10. Border status - Fake info that border will be closed
11. Health Status and right to vote: (e.g If you have COVID you can't
vote)
12. Fake announcement of death of a candidate
13. Fake poll results
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14. Fake election results

b. Election Discrediting
iii. “Election Discrediting” means a post that is likely to directly
contribute to people believing that the integrity or fairness of
election or voting processes have been compromised.
nf

iv. Examples of Voter Suppression, include, but are limited to:

15. News that non-qualified individuals are voting
16. Voting tools or instruments integrity: erasable pens, sharpie
markers, hanging chad, machine integrity
17. Claims of voter interference (adversarial country built the voting
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machinery)
c. Misleading/ Missing context
v. Misleading or Missing Context content that can impact a candidate
or
party.
18. Example— image showing the President wearing a mask outside,
but not wearing one on a plane, in order to prove their hypocrisy.
The two photos posted do indeed show the president on a plane
without a mask … in 2019, before the pandemic.

Guided Example Walkthrough

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 Methodology

Browse fact-check site for potential viral claims

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Select a false claim to research for potential submission:
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Search Facebook and/or Instagram for potential posts about the topic:

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Check for existing false or misleading content flags on your potential post
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Select No

Double check the posting date for your content

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nf
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Select No

Double check the number of interactions on your post (please note for video content, if
interactions are not available, we ask for content with at least 100 views).

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Select Yes

Double check that you have not previously submitted the same claim.
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nf
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Select No

Make sure you are submitting a VALID Facebook or Instagram URL. Please note if the
content is a shared link, make sure you are submitting the direct link to the social media
post, NOT the link to the shared content.

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Copy and paste your link:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce9ZJVeluda/
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Consider how you would like to summarize the claim you are submitting as false. You should
never copy/paste the post text or submit the claim as a question. Please briefly
summarize the exact false information you are debunking.
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Example claim summary: “Testosterone-lowering chemicals have covertly been added to

the food supply.”

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 Submit the URL of the specific article that debunks the claim and indicate if it is a third-party fact
checking site (it is not required to be long as it clearly disproves the submitted false claim).

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78 ne
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nf

https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2022/06/fact-check-no-evidence-that-chemicals-have-
beencovertly-added-to-food-supply-to-lower-testosterone.html

Select Yes (in this case).

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In the additional comments box, we ask that you briefly outline the methodology you used to find
the content.

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Example response for this example:
1.) Browse Lead Stories for potential viral misinformation content on social media.
2.) Search Instagram for the keywords “lower testosterone”.
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Additional Tips, Tricks, and Clarifications

Avoiding bias

Try to not focus solely on one side of the political aisle or specific candidates. We understand
that you cannot control what misinformation or trending topics are posted on social media, but if
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you are only looking for one type for or against a “side” that is all you will find. Remember to
keep an open mind during your search and divide your submissions in a way that is as balanced
as possible.
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Evidence Guidance Update

It is not necessary for your evidence debunking your claim to be strictly a fact checking site, but
we do ask you to please not use social media posts as your evidence even if the poster
presents it as a fact check. The following example is NOT considered valid evidence for project
purposes.

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nf
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