Misinformation vs Disinformation

Misinformation is false or incorrect information that is spread innocently, meaning that it is intended to be helpful but turns out to be false. Disinformation is false or incorrect information that is spread with the intent of influencing others in a malicious way, meaning it is purposely passed with the intent of being incorrect.

Both misinformation and disinformation are false or incorrect, but the difference is the intentions of how the false information is used. With misinformation, there is not intent to harm people, but rather to help them. On the other hand, disinformation is purposely spread with the intent of being false to influence others in a negative way.

Both of these can provide false information that seems legitimate, which can cause social media users to lose trust with large organizations and get them to believe false rumors or can put them in danger due to incorrect health information.

An extreme example of misinformation was when residents of Hawaii received a ballistic missile threat that was inbound to the Hawaiian islands. The message was sent in full capital letters and said “THIS IS NOT A DRILL”, which sent people into panic and created chaos. People were fearing for their lives, and 45 minutes later, they received another message saying it was a false alarm. This bit of misinformation caused millions of people to believe that they were under attack, and many were infuriated when they discovered it was a false alarm.

A well-known piece of disinformation is known as the flat earth theory, which attempts to falsely inform people that our planet is a flat surface. This theory was widely spread through YouTube videos explaining that the earth is supposedly flat, and that NASA faked taking photos of the earth. This trend quickly died off and didn't change many people's views on the shape of our planet.

Anyone can easily create a website that contains disinformation, or they can fabricate an image or video that is false and upload it to a social media platform. From there, the image or video can go viral and spread like wildfire across multiple platforms.

AI can effectively generate fake content and can spread it at a mass scale through bots that target a specific audience.

Video and audio seem harder to replicate, but it is becoming increasingly easier to do as technology advances. It is easier to fabricate an image, which can make videos seem more genuine. This is a major problem if the video seems genuine but is completely fake. Even worse, world leaders can be imitated to say absurd statements which can potentially cause conflicts.

Misinformation is commonly spread through political campaigns, which is quickly spread on social media via the public. Disinformation can originate from virtually anywhere on the internet, and it only takes for a piece of fake content to go viral so that it is widely spread across platforms.

Fake news is more closely related to disinformation than misinformation because it is intended to spread maliciously and meant to influence as many people as possible.

False information has been widely spread throughout the years, which has caused an increase of government and science mistrust. People in general are losing trust in these big organizations and are turning to social media to receive news and information. People feel like they receive the full picture of the news through social media, which in most cases is disinformation.