Misinformation is false information that isn’t deliberately deceptive Disinformation is false information that is intended to mislead people. The main difference between these two is that disinformation tries to deceive people but misinformation doesn’t.This kind of information spreads fast through social media and can strongly influence users. With so much information on social media it can be hard to know what to believe and what not to.
Examples of misinformation include spreading rumors that look true but aren’t; Reposting or posting things without checking that they are true; misconveyed accurate information as a result of not understanding the whole story; reposting things without checking for reliable sources.Examples of disinformation include Starting false rumors intentionally or leaving out relevant details (for example: not telling both sides to the story and just one). A real life example is when Russian actors spread propaganda against the Democratic nominee in the 2016 election.
Misinformation and Disinformation are spread when social media users like,share, or comment with the post. They are also spread by bots on social media. Bots on social media are computer algorithms that produce content for viewers. They can make the content seem popular even when it is false and therefore cause viewers to fall prey to false posts. Misinformation/Disinformation can also be spread through audio and video as well.Deep Fakes are a kind of audio/video disinformation. Often in deep fakes, the original person in the video is replaced with a public figure to make the video look genuine. Deep Fakes are very hard to differentiate from real content, and are able to rapidly spread wrong information leaving a false impression on viewers.
Fake news spreads false information just like misinformation and disinformation. It is a kind of news that follows the form of mainstream news but is fabricated and given more emotional appeal in order to mislead the reader.We often fall for fake news because it affects our emotions and blocks our thinking. Also, fake news often includes information that favors our beliefs which therefore makes us fall for them even though they may be biased(confirmation bias). -By Sruthi Rajan
