It’s been almost a week since my Twitter feed transformed from jokes about anime to political news, links, and anecdotes. Trump’s victory in the United States has blindsided me and stunned much of my social community, whether they live here or abroad.

This kind of topic isn’t my wheelhouse. But even if we carve out a niche for ourselves, we are still not immune to the mainstream world around us. I guess what I’m saying is, it’s time for the Otaku Journalist to talk about political journalism for a minute.

I am not a political journalist. But my journalism education was very much a political one. I was at President Obama’s inauguration with a press badge, shivering my butt off, covering the event for my very first journalism internship, the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star. I got my Masters degree in journalism at American University in Washington DC and my assignments included reporting on hearings on Capitol Hill and round tables with the Surgeon General. I knew which (wildly different, irreverent) niche I wanted to fill, but my environment and my education made sure that politics were at the very forefront of the reporting skills I have today.

What I’m saying is, this isn’t how I chose to use my degree, but I do have these skills. And now more than ever, it’s important for us to be able to observe and analyze our political media, which unfortunately means that we need to be prepared to tell the true stories from the fake ones.

The Internet is what has allowed me to choose a niche to write about and stick with it. It’s allowed for the democratization of media, a surging number of blogs and outlets, and the promise that anybody can become a reporter by sharing their story online. But it’s also led to a large number of people who take advantage of that system in exchange for clicks. How do I know this? I’ve actually reported and published fake news.

In my first book, Otaku Journalism, I shared the embarrassing story of a time I was fooled into publishing fake news. I asked the source for screenshots that validated his claims, and he delivered them—only later did I learn they were Photoshopped. As my story rocketed in popularity, the source asked me to take the story down. “I didn’t know it would be so easy to trick a journalist,” he said, crushing my self-esteem for the rest of that calendar year. Even though I ended up writing an apology, people still share my first article as fact.

Since then, I’ve corrected to the extreme, and I am extremely skeptical of everything I hear online. Even when primary sources share anecdotes, I wonder if they’re lying. And I am uncomfortably aware that during events of great political momentum, our precautionary smell tests often go out the window. We’re more likely to share things that fit the narrative of our political viewpoint, and unfortunately there are people who take advantage of that.

Already I’ve seen a lot of fake or questionable news circulating. A doctored photo of the KKK celebrating Trump’s victory. A Twitter feed full of difficult-or-impossible-to-verify personal hate crime anecdotes. This opinion article that claims Obama protected Planned Parenthood, permanently, stop worrying everyone. Also: probably anything you’ve seen on Facebook. In a shockingly out-of-touch claim, Mark Zuckerberg said it’s “crazy” that fake news on Facebook influenced the election. All I know is that Facebook is my number one source of fake news.

Fine Zuck, let’s just ignore the problem. We’re probably going to see more fake news instead of less. So let’s have a spectacularly out-of-the-Otaku-Journalist-wheelhouse discussion about how to recognize the fake stuff:

1) Who’s the source?

That article may seem plausible, but who published it? If you haven’t heard of it, it might not be true. Take this article: Donald Trump Tell Blacks “Kiss Your Section 8, Welfare & Medicaid Goodbye.” Beyond the highly provocative and grammatically incorrect title, you may instantly observe that you’ve never heard of this website, Fammtv. Snopes has already debunked the crap out of it multiple times, and this is just the latest fake story it’s published. Also look for sources you know to be false—be careful you’re not sharing an Onion story at face value.

2) What’s the date?

Sometimes super old stuff gets shared under the guise of being currently relevant. For example, a lot of people on my Facebook feed have been sharing this New York Times article: Donald Trump Says He’d ‘Absolutely’ Require Muslims to Register. OK, that’s a legitimate news source, so we can trust it, right? Wrong—this was written in November 2015, and Trump has since changed his stance (maybe to something worse, who knows!). Always check the date, and consider that if it’s old, this particular piece of ragebait may have already been resolved.

3) Does it pass the Google test?

When you see a political article, image, or meme that instantly gets you riled up, it only takes 30 seconds to Google it before you share. A quick search can tell you a lot of things right away—is this “fact” only coming from one site, and not a reputable one? Does a debunk immediately show up? If it’s an image, do you see multiple versions of it on Image Search, indicating that this version may have been Photoshopped? Any of these indicators should raise your suspicions.

What happens if, after all this, you share something fake anyway? I would suggest just deleting it—writing a follow-up post isn’t enough when people have already seen it. People might just keep sharing it forever, and never see the follow-up.

This is an extremely volatile time. No doubt the best thing we can do is be there for each other. But the second best thing we can do is remain informed of the facts, and not become part of the problem by spreading news that probably isn’t true.

P.S. Otaku Journalist is 7 years old today! Here’s what I wrote on its 6th birthday. Whether you’ve been here one year or seven, thanks so much for visiting this little corner of the internet.