Ben (name changed) spoke casually, as if commenting on the weather.

The rest of us sat quietly for a moment, taking it in. 

Bill Shorten, Ben continued, had been charged with rape.

Apparently we hadn’t read about it in the papers or seen it on the news because the media was covering it up.

Somehow, it was easier for Ben to assume a media conspiracy than to consider that, maybe, the anonymous blog where he received his information should not be blindly trusted.

We now know that Bill Shorten was accused of rape, but never charged.

The opposition leader last month broke his silence on allegations, dating back to the 1980s, after police determined there was no case.

The allegations had been circulating on social media for some time.

As a journalist, I’m increasingly baffled by how few people on social media scrutinise the things they publish or share online. 

Sometimes it seems it only needs to validate their opinion to be true.

Often it’s harmless, if not a little embarrassing.

Facebook, for example, started trialling a ‘‘satire’’ disclaimer after too many people were confused by clearly satirical stories appearing in their news feed.

Common sense should tell you that stories such as ‘‘Brain Dead Teen, Only Capable of Rolling Eyes and Texting, To Be Euthanized’’, ‘‘Jessica Simpson Reveals Slimmer Figure After Chopping Off Limbs’’, and ‘‘New Study Shows 85% of Americans Don’t Know The Dance Moves To The National Anthem’’ are not, in fact, true.

Silly, yes. But this widespread lack of online scrutiny can easily become dangerous – particularly at a time of heightened fear over terrorism, and a reported rise in Islamophobia.

New South Wales Police last week debunked a wideley-circulated message that ISIS members were marking Christian homes.

According to The Guardian, the message claimed they were doorknocking in certain Sydney suburbs, pretending to collect money for orphans.

And Senator Jacqui Lambie caused a stir when she posted an image of a woman wearing a full-length burqa and holding a gun, as part ofacampaign to ‘‘ban the burqa’’ for security reasons.

It later emerged the woman pictured was actually Afghanistan’s first female policewoman.

A women’s rights advocate, Malalai Kakar was shot dead by the Taliban in 2008. 

The photographer, Canadian Lana Slezic, said her image had been ‘‘desecrated’’ by Senator Lambie and Britain First, the right-wing group which originally shared the image.

These are examples of a constant problem. I have seen too many otherwise intelligent people share things they clearly haven’t scrutinised at a basic level.

Several inflammatory posts appearing in my Facebook feed lately have revealed themselves to be hoaxes.

Surely by now we all understand that the internet allows anyone to write on any topic.

That means as adult users we should be checking and verifying information, or its source, before we promote it.

All it takes is a quick Google search.

We all say silly or inconsiderate things without thinking sometimes.

But sharing something on social media, or writing a blog, is different to a conversation with friends.

You are publishing something that could reach a wide audience, and that comes with some responsibility.