One tweet with one like from an everyday user on the platform was all it took to get outlets including Fox News, New York Post and Variety to report that CNN broadcasted 30 uninterrupted minutes of transgender pornography in place of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown on Thanksgiving day.

Red State reports that CNN initially confirmed the story, perhaps leading to numerous reputable papers and stations running with the lead, spreading it into the masses online and through social media until the scandal was held as “true” and causing the outbreak of the hoax.

For many privy to the actual truth, this has become a prime example in a growing string of online oddities audiences have accepted without any base fact just because it was widely reported. Twitter user @solikearose, who has since deleted the account, crafted a joke that began to trend on sites like Facebook, and millions apparently bought it.

This whole situation represents a need to think for ourselves as consumers of the media. We can blame them retroactively for reporting misinformation all we want, but if we do not strike up some real journalistic initiative within ourselves, it’s likely we’ll be fooled by more of these types of stories in the future.

In a growing internet, young people are the epitome of folks of all ages who are buying news before looking at what is actually being sold. Studies indicate that the current generation looking to become fully college-educated has a very poor ability to discern fact from hoax on the web. It is something we can combat individually every day.

Some consumers cannot tell The Onion from The New York Times as a source; satire is lost on many, but this epidemic of not listening to the world and only paying attention to what’s trending leads directly to what is fake and true.

If you don’t want to believe a falsity like CNN broadcasting a porno on live television on one of the most family-oriented of holidays, come into the news consumption cycle with an active mind. Ignorance and the spread of misinformation can be avoided if we think, look deeper and discover facts for ourselves.