What is Misinformation?
The term misinformation is used broadly to describe false or inaccurate information that is understood or spread as true.
Misinformation is harmful because it shapes an individual’s views and actions. Depending on the subject matter, misinformation can be extremely dangerous to the individual, to their friends and family, and to society at large. There are three types of misinformation:
Misinformation is the spreading of inaccurate information without the intent to mislead. The term is used both broadly and to include specific instances where there is no intent to deceive or harm.
Examples: A friend shares incorrect information about a candidate, which they thought to be true. Satire that is taken seriously. Sharing a state’s voter registration deadline while forgetting that the state may also offer same-day registration.
Disinformation is the spreading of inaccurate or deliberately falsified information with the intent to mislead.
Examples: Intentionally spreading false information about a candidate’s background or sharing AI-generated deep fakes to damage their candidacy. Purposely sharing the wrong date for Election Day.
Malinformation is the spreading of information that may be rooted in some truth, but is exaggerated, twisted, or shared with the specific intent to mislead and cause harm.
Example: Leaking of private information with the intent of destroying campaigns. Sharing footage of real protests and ascribing them to an unrelated cause, time, or place in order to mislead, discredit, or create tensions.
While the intention is different, the three forms of misinformation all mislead and deceive. It is important to understand what misinformation is, so you are better equipped to identify and combat it.
What are the Sources of Misinformation?
Word of Mouth
Misinformation has been around as long as humans could communicate. In the early days, word-of-mouth was the primary way misinformation spread. Friends, family, neighbors and colleagues shared information they believed to be true even if it was not. Like a game of telephone, the information may also slightly change each time it was retold. Strangers may enter towns with false credentials, promises of cures or stories of other areas or people. Falsehoods were often extremely difficult to verify.
The invention of the printing press in the 1400s increased the speed and reach of misinformation. The spread of misinformation was no longer limited to word-of-mouth. It could be printed, replicated and distributed to hundreds or thousands of people at a time. Printed material – pamphlets, posters, flyers, notices, papers, books and booklets – were used as propaganda for wars, to spread falsehoods about people and populations, to sell papers, and to instill fear.
Radio and Television
Similarly, the inventions and increased prevalence of radio and television in the 1900s accelerated the spread of misinformation even more. One of the most famous instances of the power of radio in spreading misinformation was the 1938 dramatic broadcast reading of the sci-fi thriller, War of the Worlds in which listeners thought the world was actually being attacked by extraterrestrials. Those involved had no intention of deceiving listeners and thought the story was so ridiculous no one would consider it to be true.
Radio and television, like printed material, were and continue to be mediums with the power to dish out propaganda, spread false information about individuals and populations, and instill fear.
Internet
Once the internet became widely used in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the speed at which misinformation could be spread grew exponentially. Suddenly, anyone with access to the internet could share misinformation far and wide with the single click of a button, without even having to leave their home or speak to another human being. In those early days of the world wide web, much of the misinformation was shared through blog posts and forwarded emails – and some through websites trying to pose as legitimate news sources.
What About Misinformation Today?
Social Media
What’s new about misinformation today is the reality that it can rapidly spread to millions of people almost instantaneously thanks to social media. In fact, a 2018 MIT study found that “fake news” (misinformation) travels faster than real news by a substantial margin. False news stories were 70% more likely to be retweeted than true stories. A 2016 Buzzfeed analysis found the top fake news stories received more engagement on Facebook than the top election stories from 19 major news outlets.
The MIT study also found that humans, not bots, were largely responsible for reposting. Bots, short for robot, are computer programs designed to run repetitive tasks on the internet simulating a human. Bad actors – domestic and foreign – utilize bots to spread disinformation and disrupt and exploit online conversations.
To complicate matters, social media is an outlet for many who post how they feel, which may be misleading for others who may not be able to discern between fact and opinion.
What is Fake News?
The term Fake News refers to false or misleading information presented as news. It is a type of disinformation or malinformation that is often designed to damage the reputation of a person or entity – or simply to make a profit. While the first documented use of the term was in the 1890s, according to Merriam Webster, fake news has been around for centuries. In fact, the first American colonial newspaper ran a false story about King Louis XIV of France.
Yellow Journalism
In the late 1800s, rivaling newspapers owned by William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer competed for readers by running sensational stories and reporting rumors as facts, a practice that became known as yellow journalism. Stories like these played a major part in leading the U.S. into the Spanish-American War in the 1890s.
At the turn of the century, Americans started demanding more reliable and objective reporting in a wave of backlash against the lack of journalistic integrity.
Professionalization of Journalism
The early period of yellow journalism gave way to the professionalization of journalism with the establishment of journalism schools, such as the Missouri School of Journalism, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Until this time, journalists were trained through apprenticeship. Recognizing the power and responsibility of journalists, schools trained students in journalistic standards and professionalism. The Journalist’s Creed, viewed as the code of ethics for journalists, was also written to establish guidelines for the profession.
Mischaracterization and Undermining Trust in the Press
Former President Trump popularized the term “fake news” as he repeatedly misused it to belittle reputable and distinguished reporters and publishers who ran stories he did not like. As legitimate news outlets and trained reporters from outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and others covered his campaign, presidency and post-presidency, the former President has sought to undermine their integrity by labeling them as “fake news”, “phony news” and “corrupt news”. He has referred to the independent press, a pillar of a democratic society, as the “enemy of the people.”
For some of the population, this has further eroded their trust in legitimate news.
Fake News Sites aka Pink Slime
In the U.S. today, fake news sites outnumber real news sites. Fake news sites, also known as Pink Slime, are designed to make people think they are real news sites, but they often feature attack ads, partisan content and spread disinformation.
Fake news sites may be created by buying the web domain of a closing news outlet or creating a legitimate sounding web domain. The creation of fake news sites, largely spurred by Russia, has become much easier with technology and AI generated content.
What about Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Rapid innovations in AI have supercharged the creation and spread of misinformation. Specifically, generative AI bots and tools allow individuals without specialized skills to more easily manipulate groups of people.
Ahead of its 2024 Annual Meeting, the World Economic Forum released a report warning that AI-powered misinformation is the world’s biggest short-term threat. This wave of danger hits right as several countries with large economies, including the U.S., will be holding elections in the next two years. The grave risks of AI are imminent.
The Importance of an Independent Press
An independent press is a cornerstone of a democratic state. Often referred to as The Fourth Estate, an independent press refers to media that is free from government influence – meaning it does not operate as a propaganda machine or is influenced by the government in ways that would bias its reporting. A free, independent media informs the public, holds leaders accountable and includes a diverse range of voices.
With the rise of social media, many people have slowed or stopped their intake of traditional news altogether. With readership decreasing, so too have budgets, journalists, and editors, reducing the impact and power that traditional journalism has.
Today, more than half of U.S. counties are news deserts or only have limited access to local news. Legitimate local news sites in the U.S. are at a historic low of 1,213. The rapid rise in fake news sites with the rapid loss of local news organizations is alarming.
What are the current dangers of misinformation with regard to U.S. democracy and our elections?
We can see the way that misinformation impacts elections from deceptive phone calls and text messages alerting voters to a (false) change in their polling location, to deepfakes imitating candidates saying or doing things they haven’t actually said or done, to disinformation campaigns spreading inaccurate information about an issue or person to sway public perception.
Voters often struggle to distinguish between what is real or fake. Many mistakes made about election law and information are unintentional; however, in the wrong hands, AI is intentionally used to mislead. A lot of AI campaigns are not expensive or complicated to create, and it has become increasingly easy for those intending to spread misinformation to do so. When presented with fraudulent and deceptive political communications, voters’ fundamental right to make informed decisions at the ballot box is infringed upon.
Misinformation can scare people and disincentivize them from voting. Many people don’t trust the things they hear about either candidate, or feel that there are too many messy factors influencing the media, and therefore don’t want to take part in the election. That is why it is important to gather your information from trustworthy sources like candidate websites, trusted organizations, and town halls. Our voice is our most important tool in our democracy, so it is important that we are equipped with the resources and information necessary to cast an informed vote, and are not dissuaded from participating in the democratic process.
Is there anything the government can do to lessen the impact of misinformation?
The U.S. government has passed laws and created agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, and others that aim to protect individuals from misinformation. The reason many of the products we buy and food we eat have a list of ingredients and the reason items may have disclaimers are just a couple of examples of policies that seek to combat misinformation.
While the U.S. government has taken steps to curb some misinformation, there are many more actions it can take to combat the rapid rise of misinformation via social media and AI.
Technology and the First Amendment
The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the right to free speech and a free press, which even often protects false and misleading information, making it harder to regulate speech and the media when false and misleading information is arguably protected.
As an initial issue, the First Amendment is often misunderstood. It restricts the government from infringing these rights. This ensures that Americans are free to critique the government, but the First Amendment does not give Americans blanket immunity to say whatever they want, wherever they want, without consequences. Employers can, for example, restrict the speech of their employees. Additionally, the First Amendment’s protections recede when speech would infringe on another person’s rights.
For that reason, the First Amendment does not protect against defamation (libel) which occurs when a false statement of a fact about someone else harms that person’s reputation. Defamation cases are relatively rare, but they can result in criminal and civil liabilities. One of the most relevant and recent public cases is Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network: Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News Network for defamation after Fox News anchors knowingly and falsely claimed on air that Dominion’s voting machines contributed to or were responsible for the 2020 election being “stolen” – which was also false. Fox News ultimately paid $787.5 million to settle the case.
Crucially, the First Amendment does not restrict social media companies from restricting speech. Since social media platforms are run by private companies, they are free, and often expected, to moderate the content on their website however they see fit. This means that social media companies can and should prevent the spread of misinformation by regulating what is allowed to be posted and spread on their platforms.
Social media companies have regulated misinformation in the past, such as when Twitter (now X) flagged tweets containing lies about COVID-19 or the 2020 election with warning labels. However, many companies have eliminated their misinformation policies in recent years, such as YouTube, which announced in 2023 that they will no longer regulate posts with false claims.
Social media companies have the legal right and arguably the moral obligation to continue to monitor and flag misinformation, especially since an increasing number of Americans use social media as their primary news source.
Is there anything we can do as individuals to lessen the impact of misinformation?
Hone Your Media Literacy Skills
Media literacy is “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication”. It is important to be able to challenge the things you hear, research to learn more, and be able to present your own findings effectively and accurately. Media literacy must be learned and practiced. Spaces must be created where people can ask questions, hear a variety of perspectives, and learn about trusted sources. Constructive dialogue is an important exercise to improve media literacy.
Hold Friends and Family Accountable
When people close to you share false information, whether intentionally or not, you are more likely to internalize it than something from a stranger or news outlet. If you hear something from a family member or friend that doesn’t sound right or isn’t accurate, it is important to discuss it with them and research the topic so you both have correct information.
Change Your Online Habits
- Follow a diversity of people and perspectives on social media to help avoid echo chambers and create a well-balanced news feed
- Obtain your information from trusted news sources and nonpartisan organizations
- Hold news sources accountable to sharing legitimate information that they have fact checked
- Make sure you fact check the things you share online and with friends and family. If you unknowingly share false information, you may be starting a domino effect – your friends will tell theirs, and so on.
Tell Your Elected Officials
Contact your elected officials and tell them you want technology companies and their AI platforms to be held accountable and to regulate false information on their platforms.
When It’s Election Season
As you prepare to vote, make sure you obtain the correct information about when and where to vote and what you’ll need from trusted sources – and share those resources to suppress false information in social media algorithms. Check out your state or local government’s website. Pro-tip: Follow Rock the Vote on social media.
Published August 9, 2024