A political WhatsApp forward arrived. What should I do?

You can trust a friend and still check what they forwarded. The important question is where the claim came from and whether the attached material supports it.

A message asking you to share urgently does not deserve less scrutiny. Pause before helping an allegation or an unverified warning reach more people.

Identify the item inside the message

Is it a photograph, a clipped video, a number, a quoted statement or a link? These need different checks.

For a clip, seek the full recording and context. For a number, find the actual report or table. For a supposed official notice, find it on the institution's own site rather than treating a logo as authentication. Caulfield's SIFT method emphasises investigating the source and tracing material to its original context. 1

Watch for a true item with a false caption

In a hypothetical example, a real video from another year is shared as footage of an incident today. Calling it “not AI-generated” would not establish the date, place or people described in the message.

A translated caption also adds a claim. Check what the speaker actually said before relying on someone else's summary, particularly when the alleged statement could expose a person or group to hostility.

Ask for something checkable

A simple response is enough: “Where is the original source? This version does not establish the date or location.”

You do not need to insult the sender or claim they knowingly lied. Distinguish an unsupported message from proven deliberate deception.

If you find a correction, explain the specific error and link the evidence. Reposting the entire harmful allegation to a larger audience can spread it further; use only the detail necessary to explain the correction.

Do not turn uncertainty into an accusation

“Could this be true?” is still a way of circulating the claim. For an allegation involving a named person, crime or a vulnerable group, lack of verification is a reason to withhold it, not a reason to add a question mark and forward it.

Avoid entering passwords, identity details or OTPs through a link merely because it appears in a political or government-branded message. Visit the relevant official service independently.

Your useful outcome may be small: not sharing, asking for the original evidence or correcting one misleading caption. None requires winning an argument in the group.