Fighting Autocracy

Truth Starts Here: Fighting Misinformation in Your Own Community

A horizontal illustration of diverse community members gathered in a town hall, discussing misinformation while using laptops and fact-checking tools, with posters and a projector screen showing verified news sources

Misinformation isn’t just a national crisis, it’s a local one. Every neighborhood, school board, town meeting, and online group is affected by the fog of falsehood. But the antidote begins with everyday people who choose clarity over chaos.

If national lies feel overwhelming, this is your call to action: Start local. Speak truth. Build resilience.

🎇Five Ways to Fight Misinformation at the Community Level

1. Host a Local Fact-Check Forum

Partner with your library, school, or community center to organize a public workshop.

A horizontal illustration of a community forum with participants gathered around tables, engaged in discussion and using laptops to verify online claims, while a moderator presents fact-checking resources on a large screen.

✤ Invite journalists or educators to explain verification tools.

✤ Use real-world examples to show how disinformation works.

✤ Encourage attendees to share suspicious posts and analyze them together.

2. Support Local and Independent Media

Truth needs a microphone and local reporters are often closest to the facts.

A horizontal illustration of a journalist at a local newsroom desk, surrounded by newspapers, audio equipment, and a bulletin board with community headlines, symbolizing the role of independent media in countering misinformation.

✤ Subscribe to independent outlets.

✤ Share credible reporting on social media.

✤ Ask your representatives to support press protections and funding for public media.

3. Advocate for Media Literacy in Schools

Reach out to school boards about integrating media literacy into curricula.

A horizontal illustration of a diverse classroom where a teacher is guiding students through a media literacy lesson; students are analyzing news articles on tablets while a whiteboard displays terms like ‘bias’, ‘fact-check’, and ‘source verification’

✤ Suggest programs like News Literacy Project or MediaWise.

✤ Volunteer to speak to students or donate materials.

✤ Help youth learn to recognize bias, emotional appeals, and misinformation tactics.

4. Start a Truth-Telling Thread

Use social media platforms like Bluesky, Mastodon, or community forums to build a verified thread:

A horizontal illustration of a person composing a social media thread, with verified news articles, fact-checking tools, and positive reactions from followers appearing around the screen, symbolizing the amplification of truth in online spaces

✤ Debunk common local myths or rumors.

✤ Share tools like Snopes or PolitiFact.

✤ Use hashtags like #LocalTruth or #FactOverFear to connect with others.

5. Build a Local Truth Network

Form a coalition of librarians, educators, students, activists, and journalists.

A horizontal illustration of a diverse group of community members collaborating in a shared digital workspace, with laptops, bulletin boards, and chat bubbles connecting them, symbolizing a grassroots truth network combating misinformation together.

✤ Create a Slack or Discord space for info-sharing.

✤ Plan town hall events or teach-ins.

✤ Respond to misinformation in real-time with facts, resources, and empathy.

🎇Because Truth is a Community Effort

When people feel overwhelmed, they withdraw. But isolation fuels disinformation. By taking action where you live, you make truth tangible again. You help others feel less alone and more equipped to resist distortion.

You don’t need a title or platform. You need courage, curiosity, and a few allies.

Let’s make truth louder than the lies.