Misinformation, Disinformation, and Propaganda: Unreliable News Content

Adapted and extended based on the definitions used by Melissa Zimdars' Open Sources project [18 November 2016].

• Misinformation: False information that is spread regardless of an intent to mislead.
• Disinformation: False claims and information and conspiracy theories that are spread with the intent to mislead. Propaganda.
   
  • For an explanation of the difference between misinformation and disinformation, see https://www.dictionary.com/e/misinformation-vs-disinformation-get-informed-on-the-difference/.
• Deepfakes and shallowfakes: Use of video software to create events that never happened or distort a person's statements for propaganda purposes or to discredit public figures for political or financial gain. xkcd wisdom on deepfakes
• Satire: Sources that use humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, satire, and false information to comment on current events.
• State-sponsored False Information: Sources, particularly in repressive or authoritarian states, operating under government control that create and spread disinformation and propaganda.
• Junk Science: Sources that promote discredited conspiracy theories or scientifically false or unverifiable claims.
• Hate on the Internet: Sites that actively promote racism, misogyny, homophobia, white supremacy, and other forms of violence, bias, and exclusion.
• Fake News: Content from sources that entirely fabricate information, disseminate disinformation and deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports.
• Clickbait: Sources that use exaggerated, misleading, or questionable headlines, social media descriptions, and/or images to generate traffic on a website.
• Political: Sources that provide generally verifiable information but only when it supports certain points of view or political goals.
• Credible: Sources that circulate news and information in a manner consistent with core principles of ethical journalism. (Remember: even credible sources sometimes rely on clickbait-style headlines or occasionally make mistakes. No news organization is perfect, which is why a healthy news diet consists of multiple sources of information, especially sources that issue corrections on previous reporting).
• Disinformation

"The opposite of truth is not just a lie. The opposite of truth is chaos." --spoken by Nikki Alexander, forensic pathologist in the BBC television series Silent Witness.

Almost no one argues about who won the Super Bowl. The team that loses doesn't refuse to leave the field. The integrity of the game rests on a social contract--that people will accept the outcome of a competition, even they they weren't present at the game, even if they did not watch the game on television.

Why, then, do people refuse to accept factual information as true and choose to believe something false instead? The psychological and social dynamics of disinformation, media manipulation, and conspiracy theories are complex. Weaning people who are deeply committed to conspiracy theories (QAnon, AntiVaxxers, and the like) off their dependence on these false conspiracy theories may require approaches similar to those used to help people with treating addiction and cult issues. Audio from National Public Radio: Experts In Cult Deprogramming Step In To Help Believers In Conspiracy Theories [2 March 2021].

For insight into one aspect of how media disinformation is spread, see this report on "source hacking" that lays out the specifics on how media manipulators work: Source Hacking: Media Manipulation in Practice [4 September 2019].

Misinformation Reinforces Existing but False Beliefs

"...misinformation is powerful, not because it changes minds, but because it allows people to maintain their beliefs in light of growing evidence to the contrary. The internet may function not so much as a brainwashing engine but as a justification machine. A rationale is always just a scroll or a click away, and the incentives of the modern attention economy—people are rewarded with engagement and greater influence the more their audience responds to what they’re saying—means that there will always be a rush to provide one." [emphasis added]

Warzel, Charlie, and Mike Caulfield. (6 January 2025) The Atlantic. "The Internet Is Worse Than a Brainwashing Machine: A Rationale Is Always Just a Scroll or a Click Away."
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/01/january-6-justification-machine/681215