Why visuals can be as misleading as text
Launch library · evergreen read
Images and video can convey a misleading impression just as easily as written text, whether through selective framing, missing context or, increasingly, deliberate digital alteration. A visual can be entirely genuine and unaltered and still misrepresent a situation if it is presented without the surrounding context that explains what is actually shown.
Verifying a striking image or video, by checking whether it has appeared in other contexts previously or searching for its original source, has become an increasingly important media literacy skill as visual content spreads considerably faster than text based claims typically do across most platforms.
This is particularly relevant given how persuasive visual content genuinely tends to be. People are often more inclined to trust something they can actually see with their own eyes, which makes the habit of pausing to verify visuals just as important as verifying written claims carefully before sharing them further with friends or family.