Misinformation

Not to be confused with Disinformation or Misinformation effect.
A sign campaigning for the successful Vote Leave in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. The claim made by the sign was widely considered to have been an example of misinformation.[1][2][3][4]

Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information.[5][6] Misinformation can exist without specific malicious intent; disinformation is distinct in that it is deliberately deceptive and propagated.[7][8][9] Misinformation can include inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or false information as well as selective or half-truths.[10][11] In January 2024, the World Economic Forum identified misinformation and disinformation, propagated by both internal and external interests, to "widen societal and political divides" as the most severe global risks within the next two years.[12]

Much research on how to correct misinformation has focused on fact-checking.[13] However, this can be challenging because the information deficit model does not necessarily apply well to beliefs in misinformation.[14][15] Various researchers have also investigated what makes people susceptible to misinformation.[15] People may be more prone to believe misinformation because they are emotionally connected to what they are listening to or are reading. Social media has made information readily available to society at anytime, and it connects vast groups of people along with their information at one time.[16] Advances in technology have impacted the way people communicate information and the way misinformation is spread.[13] Misinformation can influence people's beliefs about communities, politics, medicine, and more.[16][17] The term also has the potential to be used to obfuscate legitimate speech and warp political discourses.

The term came into wider recognition during the mid-1990s through the early 2020s, when its effects on public ideological influence began to be investigated. However, misinformation campaigns have existed for hundreds of years.[18][19]

  1. ^ Henley, Jon (10 June 2016). "Why Vote Leave's £350m weekly EU cost claim is wrong". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  2. ^ "The UK's EU membership fee". Full Fact. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Reality Check: Would Brexit mean extra £350m a week for NHS?". BBC News. 15 April 2016.
  4. ^ Ackrill, Robert (27 April 2016). "Fact Check: how much does the UK actually pay to the EU?". The Conversation.
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Dictionary (19 August 2020). "Misinformation". Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  6. ^ Fetzer, James H. (2004-05-01). "Information: Does it Have To Be True?". Minds and Machines. 14 (2): 223–229. doi:10.1023/B:MIND.0000021682.61365.56. ISSN 1572-8641. S2CID 31906034.
  7. ^ Woolley, Samuel C.; Howard, Philip N. (2016). "Political Communication, Computational Propaganda, and Autonomous Agents". International Journal of Communication. 10: 4882–4890. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  8. ^ Caramancion, Kevin Matthe (2020). "An Exploration of Disinformation as a Cybersecurity Threat". 2020 3rd International Conference on Information and Computer Technologies (ICICT). pp. 440–444. doi:10.1109/icict50521.2020.00076. ISBN 978-1-7281-7283-5. S2CID 218651389.
  9. ^ Fisher, Natascha A. Karlova, Karen E. (2013-03-15). "A social diffusion model of misinformation and disinformation for understanding human information behaviour". informationr.net. Archived from the original on 2023-05-11. Retrieved 2023-05-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :42 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Diaz Ruiz, Carlos (2023-10-30). "Disinformation on digital media platforms: A market-shaping approach". New Media & Society. doi:10.1177/14614448231207644. ISSN 1461-4448.
  12. ^ The Global Risks Report 2024, World Economic Forum. ISBN 978-2-940631-64-3
  13. ^ a b Lewandowsky, Stephan; Ecker, Ullrich K. H.; Seifert, Colleen M.; Schwarz, Norbert; Cook, John (2012). "Misinformation and Its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing". Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 13 (3): 106–131. doi:10.1177/1529100612451018. JSTOR 23484653. PMID 26173286. S2CID 42633.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :16 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ a b Aral 2020.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT-20240316 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Bode, Leticia; Vraga, Emily (23 June 2015). "In Related News, That was Wrong: The Correction of Misinformation Through Related Stories Functionality in Social Media". Journal of Communication. 65 (4): 619–638. doi:10.1111/jcom.12166. S2CID 142769329. Archived from the original on 2022-11-12. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  19. ^ Posetti, Julie; Matthews, Alice (June 23, 2018). "A Short Guide to the History of 'Fake News' and Disinformation: A New ICFJ Learning Module". International Center for Journalists. Archived from the original on 2019-02-25. Retrieved 2024-01-31.