Ironically, the headline is misleading because the article has nothing to say on how to "fight" bad information - it merely provides hints on how to avoid being personally taken in by it.
"Fighting" bad information would imply doing something to stop others being taken in. The essence of the problem is that less sensational correct information doesn't self-propagate to the same extent that more sensational but incorrect information does, and nothing in the article addresses this.
Though the provided heuristics are fine and dandy, accepting them as a "solution" is effectively conceding defeat; the underlying problem won't be solved by an inevitable minority of individuals applying these rules. A deeper and more widespread awareness of the problem of agnotology[1] is required as a minimal starting point.
"Fighting" bad information would imply doing something to stop others being taken in. The essence of the problem is that less sensational correct information doesn't self-propagate to the same extent that more sensational but incorrect information does, and nothing in the article addresses this.
Though the provided heuristics are fine and dandy, accepting them as a "solution" is effectively conceding defeat; the underlying problem won't be solved by an inevitable minority of individuals applying these rules. A deeper and more widespread awareness of the problem of agnotology[1] is required as a minimal starting point.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnotology