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It can be very challenging to assess what information to believe. One simple way to evaluate evidence is via something called "Hill's Criteria", 
considerations to help assess whether an observation has a *causal* component
I'll describe them using xkcd comics
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considerations to help assess whether an observation has a *causal* componentI'll describe them using xkcd comics
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Sir Austin Bradford Hill, a statistician & epidemiologist, created a list of guidelines for evaluating whether there is evidence of a causal relationship. He determined the following aspects ought to be considered when assessing causality
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1898525/pdf/procrsmed00196-0010.pdf
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1898525/pdf/procrsmed00196-0010.pdf
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Strength 
How big is the effect you are seeing?Note: Hill suggests that huge effects can suggest causality, however this does not mean small effects cannothttps://xkcd.com/539/
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ConsistencyThis is essentially reproducibility & replicabilityCan your analysis be reproduced?Has anyone been able to replicate your findings?http://xkcd.com/242/
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Specificity Can the association be pinpointed to a specific cause with no other plausible explanation?http://xkcd.com/1217/
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Temporality 
Does the timeline make sense?In general, the exposure ought to come before the outcome it is said to cause.http://xkcd.com/925/
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Biological gradientThe wording of this point makes it a bit difficult to untangle from the medical application, but generally this refers to a dose effectDoes increasing an exposure yield a change in the outcome.http://xkcd.com/323/
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PlausibilityDoes the causal relationship make sense?This is also a tricky one since plausibility depends on knowledge at the time. If we found it perfectly plausible, we may not need statistics to show the relationship.http://xkcd.com/605/
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CoherenceSimilar to plausibility, is there a logical argument that can be made by/to experts in the field regarding causality.Does it fit into the understanding of the field http://xkcd.com/1170/
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Experiment 
If a controlled experiment can take place, this can strengthen the argument for causality I view this as a general attempt to implement a counterfactual analysis.http://xkcd.com/1462/
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There is lots of incoming information and data these days, hopefully these principles can help a bit with sifting through the noise! I have a blogpost version of this here if that is your 
cup of tea:
https://livefreeordichotomize.com/2016/12/15/hill-for-the-data-scientist-an-xkcd-story/
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cup of tea:https://livefreeordichotomize.com/2016/12/15/hill-for-the-data-scientist-an-xkcd-story/
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