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Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation can exist without specific malicious intent; disinformation is distinct in that it is deliberately deceptive and propagated. Misinformation can include inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or false information as well as selective or half-truths.
- Overview
- What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation?
- Mis- and disinformation in the 21st century’s increasingly complex information landscape
- Why people spread mis- and disinformation and why people fall for it
- Free speech and the liar’s dividend
- The emerging role of AI and what we can do in response
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Misinformation is the inadvertent spread of false information without intent to harm, while disinformation is false information designed to mislead others and is deliberately spread with the intent to confuse fact and fiction. Identifying and combating the spread of mis- and disinformation is a major challenge in the increasingly complex informatio...
Misinformation can occur when individuals or organizations unwittingly get the facts wrong. Misinformation often surfaces when a breaking news story is unfolding and details have not yet been confirmed. Another instance of misinformation is when people share false information as a fact without thoroughly checking that the information they are sharing is accurate. In 2018 Dictionary.com deemed misinformation its word of the year. The term was first used in the late 16th century. In his 1756 work, Memoirs of the King of Prussia, Part I, the English critic Samuel Johnson employed the concept in writing about Frederick II, stating that the king had professed himself strongly opposed to the use of torture. However, Johnson suggested that the king was misinformed in accusing the English of still employing torture at that time:
He declares himself with great ardour against the use of torture; and by some misinformation, charges the English that they still retain it.
Misinformation can spread easily despite a lack of malicious intent. A 2018 study of Twitter (now known as X) users by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that false information spreads more quickly than accurate information. Take, for example, a rapidly spreading social media post about a new celebrity couple that is shared repeatedly before being debunked as a rumor, a joke, or gossip. For someone scrolling through an app, a quick “one click” can easily share the false information, unintentionally causing the fake claim to spread like wildfire. Even if the original post or claim is modified, if people have already shared the information in separate posts, the misinformation can be actively and repeatedly spread with no accountability for those sharing the false rumor.
Misinformation is false information spread inadvertently without intent to harm.
While the consequences of spreading misinformation can have varying degrees of impact, misinformation can lead to decreased trust in all information on the Internet. In turn, this mistrust can erode democratic systems and undermine the news ecosystem. As in the case of the common fable of the “boy who cried wolf,” if people find that the information they consume on a common basis is often false, it will lead them to distrust or not believe crucial and important information that is true.
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While not a new problem, the emergence of our hyper-networked media ecosystem has accelerated the spread of mis- and disinformation. Prior to the Internet, mobile technologies, and social media platforms, people often relied on widely trusted sources such as local and regional media, national publications, and nightly broadcast news programs to receive information. Today we are hyperconnected. From Snapchat articles that resemble salacious clickbait content to microblogging posts on X, TikTok videos, and Instagram infographics, anyone with a digital device holds the power to disseminate news and information. When consuming information this way, it can be hard to track claims to their original source or verify whether the information is based on fact.
At the same time, information shared online is often free to consume, unlike fact-based articles and stories that trusted news sources publish. Today people are more reluctant to pay for news, as they can source what they perceive as quality information online. This dynamic has significantly impacted local news outlets—the most trusted source of news across all political affiliations. Partly as a consequence, local news outlets are shutting down, decreasing their workforce, or being bought out by corporate companies.
Bad actors have leveraged this new information ecosystem by deliberately spreading disinformation to influence public opinion regarding vaccines, the COVID-19 pandemic, international affairs, political candidates, U.S. democracy, and other critical topics. These attempts at sowing distrust in our institutions have fueled vaccine hesitancy and skepticism, leading to major public health challenges. Disinformation has contributed to a rise of hate speech and political violence and initiated a revolving cycle of voter challenges and the introduction of voter suppression laws that have made it harder for voters—particularly older voters, voters of color, and voters with disabilities—to participate in democracy.
Some experts have warned that the rampant spread of mis- and disinformation has contributed to what they call a “post-truth” society, defined by Oxford Dictionaries as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” While media literacy skills can help people critically assess the accuracy of information, this influx of false information, matched with cognitive tendencies, is what drives sustainable false narratives. Research in cognitive science shows that when people repeatedly see or hear fabricated information, it can significantly distort their beliefs, even after being debunked. This is especially true if viewers see the information as novel, surprising, unique, or out of the ordinary.
A 2022 Nature Reviews Psychology study, “The Psychological Drivers of Misinformation Belief and Its Resistance to Correction,” found that mental shortcuts, motivated reasoning, and emotional influences allow misinformation to take hold and persist despite counters to its validity. Research also suggests that people latch onto information that aligns with their existing worldview or beliefs, whether or not that information is true. Political partisanship and personal views skew perceptions of what some accept as truth, and our emotions also affect our judgment—both the emotions that a claim evokes and one’s own emotional state when receiving the information. People also sometimes spread mis- and disinformation simply to connect with other people, especially during periods of cognitive decline. Sometimes even the most salacious of untrue statements leads to more clicks and likes online, providing a positive feedback loop for the person spreading the misinformation.
Content including mis- and disinformation that invokes fear, anger, or positive emotions can increase gullibility and belief. This fact explains how the spread and amplification of mis- and disinformation can worsen over time. The algorithms that power social media platforms are designed to generate engagement. When a social media user engages with mis- and disinformation online, social media algorithms may continue to promote similar false narratives to keep the user engaged on its platform. This feedback loop can accelerate the speed at which mis- and disinformation spreads—not just by malign actors or audiences primed for false information but also by individuals and media who inadvertently amplify it in an effort to debunk it.
One of the biggest challenges related to addressing mis- and disinformation is the risks related to people’s right to free speech (or free expression). Another big concern is the phenomenon of the “liar’s dividend,” which is when bad actors use the threat of mis- and disinformation to delegitimize real facts and information.
In the United States, people have a right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Though it is a complicated topic, this right generally allows people to express opinions and ideas, even if they are not true, with very limited government restrictions and exceptions. There have been instances in countries without freedom of speech where governments have used threats of misinformation to retaliate against political opponents. For this reason, many are careful to avoid even the appearance of curtailing someone’s right to free speech so as to not be accused of political interference.
New tactics are under development to undermine confidence in elections and exploit information gaps using machine learning, a key form of artificial intelligence (AI). While the sharing of false information, regardless of nefarious intent, has always been a part of political campaigns, the rise of AI has allowed for new forms of information manipulation and presents new potential for false claims to mislead voters. One type of artificially generated mis- or disinformation is the deepfake—a picture, video, or audio clip that is created or digitally altered to deceive an audience. The expansion of AI also allows bad actors to refine existing voter suppression tactics, such as mass voter challenges, records requests, and flat-out election denialism. These efforts, particularly as they relate to U.S. democracy, are often aimed at harming communities of color and vulnerable groups, such as older adults and people with disabilities, attempting to scare or dissuade them from voting or tapping into deep political fears and spreading false information about specific candidates to sway their opinion—and, ultimately, their votes. During the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election of 2024, experts and organizations that are focused on protecting voters from disinformation anticipate encountering the same disinformation trends (such as inaccurate polling locations, falsehoods about voting machines and mail-in ballots, and misrepresentation of candidate positions) that were thrust into the mainstream during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles. Those experts also warn that the 2024 cycle could see more sophisticated disinformation campaigns and tactics at a much larger scale than in recent elections.
When you suspect or identify mis- and disinformation, avoid amplifying it.
Others are working on long-term efforts to build trust and faith in elections and the general democratic process by developing news and media literacy for students, starting in elementary school and continuing through high school. Efforts that are well underway to develop media literacy standards in schools will help people from a young age learn to flag and address mis- and disinformation. In 2021 Illinois became the first state in the country to require all public high schools to have a news literacy course to ensure that students are equipped to deal with the increasing amount of false or fabricated information online.
Media Literacy 101: Mis- and Disinformation Checklist
•When you see information presented as fact online, always pause to check its veracity.
•If you are not sure whether the information you are seeing is true, look for trusted leaders and national or local news sources to see whether they are reporting or sharing the same information.
Learn the difference between misinformation and disinformation, how they are spread, and their impacts on society and democracy. Explore examples of mis- and disinformation in politics, health, and media.
- John Palfrey
Learn how misinformation, disinformation, and infodemic affect our health, democracy, and society from Harvard experts and scholars. Explore the causes, consequences, and solutions of spreading false or misleading information online and offline.
Misinformation is false or inaccurate information—getting the facts wrong. Disinformation is false information which is deliberately intended to mislead—intentionally misstating the facts.
May 7, 2021 · Social and psychological forces are combining to make the sharing and believing of misinformation an endemic problem with no easy solution.
Sep 28, 2012 · How does misinformation originate, spread and affect our cognition? This article reviews the research on misinformation and offers some guidelines for evidence-based practice and policy.
Apr 27, 2021 · In the first 3 months of 2020, nearly 6 000 people around the globe were hospitalized because of coronavirus misinformation, recent research suggests. During this period, researchers say at least 800 people may have died due to misinformation related to COVID-19*.
