Disinformation

Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people.[1][2][3] Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic deceptions and media manipulation tactics to advance political, military, or commercial goals.[4] Disinformation is implemented through attacks that "weaponize multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value judgements—to exploit and amplify culture wars and other identity-driven controversies."[5]

In contrast, misinformation refers to inaccuracies that stem from inadvertent error.[6] Misinformation can be used to create disinformation when known misinformation is purposefully and intentionally disseminated.[7] "Fake news" has sometimes been categorized as a type of disinformation, but scholars have advised not using these two terms interchangeably or using "fake news" altogether in academic writing since politicians have weaponized it to describe any unfavorable news coverage or information.[8]

  1. ^ Ion Mihai Pacepa and Ronald J. Rychlak (2013), Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism, WND Books, pp. 4–6, 34–39, 75, ISBN 978-1-936488-60-5
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference bittman1985 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference shultzgodson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Diaz Ruiz, Carlos (2023). "Disinformation on digital media platforms: A market-shaping approach". New Media & Society. Online first: 1–24. doi:10.1177/14614448231207644. S2CID 264816011. This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Ireton, C & Posetti, J (2018) "Journalism, fake news & disinformation: handbook for journalism education and training" UNESCO". Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  7. ^ Golbeck, Jennifer, ed. (2008), Computing with Social Trust, Human-Computer Interaction Series, Springer, pp. 19–20, ISBN 978-1-84800-355-2
  8. ^ Freelon, Deen; Wells, Chris (3 March 2020). "Disinformation as Political Communication". Political Communication. 37 (2): 145–156. doi:10.1080/10584609.2020.1723755. ISSN 1058-4609. S2CID 212897113. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.