Sample post, made up
They don't want you to know this about airline seat maps. The free seats are hidden on purpose. Share this before it gets taken down.
Definition
What is a media nutrition label?
A media nutrition label shows how a social media post is built to persuade you, the way the nutrition label on a cereal box shows what's in the food. It sets out what the post is saying, how hard it pulls on your emotions and the persuasion techniques it seems to use, and it leaves the conclusion to you.
Every cereal box has a nutrition label. Nothing in your feed does. The idea is simple: seeing how a post is built should be as easy as reading the calories on a cereal box.
Media Nutrition Label is an iPhone® app that prints one for any post you share into it. An AI model reads the post and writes the label, and like any AI, it can be wrong.
What's on a media nutrition label
Every label has the same parts in the same order, so once you can read one, you can read them all.
- Serving size
- Always one post.
- What it's saying
- The post in plain words, so the claim stands without the styling. Then the ask: what it wants you to do, whether that's tap, buy, share or follow.
- Emotional pull
- Low, medium or high, and a line on why. It's the calories row.
- Persuasion techniques
- Each technique the post seems to use, named, with the words in the post where it shows up. Tap one in the app to open its Field Guide lesson.
- How to defuse it
- One move against the first technique, taken from the app's Field Guide.
- Ask yourself
- One question, written for this post, to ask yourself before you share it.
- Claim to check
- Only when the post makes a claim worth checking: the claim in plain words, and where to start looking.
- The stamp
- The same on every label: written by AI from the post shown to it, and AI can be wrong.
A real one
Media
Nutrition Facts
Serving size1 post
WHAT IT'S SAYING
The post claims airlines deliberately hide free/available seats from customers on seat maps and urges sharing before removal.
The ask: share this post
Emotional pullMEDIUM
suspicion and urgency toward an unnamed hidden airline scheme
Persuasion techniques3
Hidden-Truth Framing
claims airlines hide free seats "on purpose"
Fear or urgency framing
warns it will be "taken down"
Engagement bait
asks reader to share before removal
HOW TO DEFUSE IT
Ask what evidence would change the poster's mind. If the answer is 'nothing', it's identity content, not information.
ASK YOURSELF
What evidence is given that seat maps are deliberately hidden versus just a booking system quirk?
CLAIM TO CHECK
The post claims airlines intentionally hide free seats on their seat maps to conceal them from customers.
Look for: airline seat map free seats policy explanation; how airline seat selection algorithms work.
* WRITTEN BY AI FROM THE POST SHOWN TO IT · AI CAN BE WRONG
DOESN'T SAY WHAT'S TRUE OR FALSE
ONE READER'S READ, NOT A MEASUREMENT
WRONG, OR ABOUT YOU? SUPPORT@MNL-APP.COM
The claim check
When a post makes a claim worth checking, the label prints it in plain words. Tap Check this claim and MNL searches the public web, then prints a second sheet in three parts:
- THE CLAIM WE SEARCHED
- WHAT SOURCES SAY
- WHAT THE SEARCH FOUND
It names those sources but doesn't link them, and the names are the model's own, so treat them as where to start. It doesn't rule on the claim.
Check this claim is part of MNL Pro. The conclusion is yours.
How to get one
Share the post from the app you're already in. Tap Share, pick Media Nutrition Label, and back comes a label.
It sits in the Share sheet of the apps you already use, your browser included: anything that shares a link, a photo or a video. Private account, Story or message? Take a screenshot and share that instead.
You can also open the app and scan a screenshot, a screen recording or a link. Media Nutrition Label is an iPhone app, and it's free to use.
What it isn't
A media nutrition label doesn't say what's true or false, and it doesn't rate a post as good or bad. It shows how a post is built to persuade, not whether it is right.
The emotional pull row is one reader's read, not a measurement. The label is written by an AI model, and AI can be wrong, which is why every label ends with the same stamp. The conclusion is always yours.
Questions about media nutrition labels
Does a media nutrition label tell me if a post is true?
No. It shows how the post is built to persuade and leaves the conclusion to you. When a post makes a claim worth checking, the label names the claim and where to start looking, and Check this claim prints what named sources say.
Who writes the label?
An AI model reads the post shown to it and writes the label. Like any AI, it can be wrong, and every label ends with a stamp that says so.
Which apps can I share from?
Any app with a Share button that sends a link, a photo or a video, your browser included. For a private account, a Story or a message, take a screenshot and share that instead.
Is Media Nutrition Label free?
The app is free to use, and the free plan is not time-limited. MNL Pro is $8.99 a month, billed by Apple, and renews until you cancel. Pro raises the daily scan limit and adds Your Brain, Labeled, Dig Deeper and Check this claim.
Who makes the Media Nutrition Label app?
An independent app, built and run by one person in Connecticut. It is not affiliated with any news outlet or social platform. Questions go to support@mnl-app.com.