Misinformation and Disinformation
🎯 Objectives
Misinformation and Disinformation
You may have heard of terms like misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation and disinformation describe information that is either incorrect or out of context. The difference is that disinformation is created to deceive people, while misinformation is created by accident.
An example of misinformation is:
- A man shares a fake cure for a sickness on Twitter. He believes the cure is legit because someone he trusts told him, but he is unaware that many scientific research studies have disproven this information.
An example of disinformation is:
- A social media post that purposefully misquotes a politician, showing her saying something she didn’t in order to discredit her.
Believing or spreading false information can be detrimental. As you interact with information, make sure to check that it is from a reliable source and has credible content.
🎓Artificial Intelligence applications, such as Chat GPT, can be a great tool to generate ideas in the research and writing process, however they do come with limitations. While not intentional, Chat GPT can make mistakes and provide false information. What makes it more difficult is that Chat GPT doesn’t tell you what sources it gets its information from, so make sure to verify what it tells you with reliable sources.
Stopping the Spread of False Information on Social Media
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Misinformation spreads fastest when emotions run high. The moment you are most angry, excited, or shocked is the moment to fact check.
❗It is important to note that there is a difference between platforms and content. Youtube, TikTok, Twitter, etc. are all examples of platforms or places where people can share information. A platform itself can’t be incorrect or correct, but the actual content (posts, videos, tweets, etc.) that are shared can be. It is important to consider the creator’s intent and double-check the information you come in contact with.
What Have We Learned
- Use lateral reading, going upstream, and considering bias as source evaluation skills.
- Lateral reading involves leaving the website, opening new tabs, and searching for the website/organization being evaluated to read across tabs.
- Going upstream means tracing back to the original source when an article or piece of information cites a study or includes statements from other sources.
- Considering bias requires evaluating the inclination towards something more than another thing and comparing statements from one person with what other people say about the same topic to get a well-rounded view.
- Misinformation and disinformation refer to incorrect or out-of-context information, with disinformation being created to deceive people, while misinformation is created by accident.
- It is important to check the reliability of sources to avoid spreading or believing false information.
For one-on-one help with this part of your assignment, visit a research consultant at the Research & Writing Center.