I think this is something that comes up a lot when we are talking about fighting misinformation and disinformation. When we talk about getting rid of misinformation, a lot of people bring up right to freedom of speech. I can understand why some people would be concerned about their rights being violated or infringed upon due to censorship. However, we must not forget the responsibility of having rights. You can say whatever you please, but you are responsible for whatever statements you made if that statement is known to cause harm to others.

The important point here is that, your average person, (especially individuals that are more susceptible to deceit) is unable to verify the authenticity of certificates. The only armor we have against deception is skepticism, but how many of us are skeptical of nutritional facts? How many of us go out of our way to research items listed on ingredients list? This shows the importance of staying vigilant and skeptical of information that seems to be too good to be true.

When it comes to misinformation, I think it is important to discuss the power of "word of mouth." We are more likely to believe something (or in this case buy something) if we heard it from a trusted source. Information from your friend or colleague is more believable than a random stranger. In this case we should also consider the impact of 'word of mouth" when we buy a product. How many of us read Amazon reviews before buying a product? Majority of the reviews are written by complete strangers, yet we trust their reviews and information...how crazy is that?