What is Lateral Reading?

“Cure Coronavirus with freshly boiled garlic water.”

And how about this? Cure it by steam inhalation. Or use lemon tea.

Remember those viral WhatsApp “home remedies” for COVID-19?

One way to check if messages are factual is to simply use the technique called lateral reading.

What is Lateral Reading?

It simply means searching online and clicking on as many links as you can find. And figuring out what you can trust!

So does freshly boiled garlic water help?

Step 1: Search for this and open multiple tabs

Step 2: Focus on research texts such as on Google Scholar or PubMed

Step 3: Discard anything without sources and research

Step 4: See what the World Health Organization says

Step 5: Also look out for fact-checks

TL;DR: So Lateral reading is NOT ABOUT precision. It’s ACTUALLY a rough and ready tool you can use in seconds to see if you can MOSTLY trust something.

This is Aarav and team, from the Season 2 of the Teen Fact-Checking Network India.