Which practice is used to infer a source's purpose and funding by examining the website's domain types such as .gov, .edu, .org, or .com?

• A. Contextualization
• B. Pause Before Sharing
• C. Authority Check
• D. Red Flag Identification

Answer: (C)

Evaluating a source by its domain types is about assessing the source’s authority and who might have influenced it. Domains reveal who is behind the site and, often, why it exists. A .gov domain comes from a government agency, usually funded with public money and expected to share official information. A .edu domain comes from a college or university, which tends to aim at education and research, though it can still reflect institutional perspectives. A .org domain is typically a nonprofit or advocacy group; these sites can be credible but may promote a particular mission or viewpoint. A .com domain is commercial, often tied to profit and advertising interests. Seeing these signals helps you infer the site’s purpose and potential financial backers, which matters for judging reliability and bias. This approach is a clear way to assess authority, and it’s useful alongside other checks like contextualizing content or looking for red flags.