MISINFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION
in the Information Age
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ealing with gossip, hearsay and rumours is not a new phenomenon. But the way in which information is disseminated and shared has significantly changed over the last 20 years. Digital platforms created the means to easily spread news and information to a wide audience across borders at a much greater speed and scale than ever before. While this has obvious benefits, one of the downsides is that misinformation and disinformation are spread in the same way. What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation? To understand who and how it spreads, we first need to look at the definitions. Misinformation is false or harmful information that usually is not shared with malicious intent. Disinformation is false and malicious information that is deliberately shared to cause harm. Who spreads it All of us are potential spreaders of misinformation and disinformation. That makes it so powerful. Social media is specifically designed to encourage the spreading of information. Each post that we share has the potential to
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spread unsubstantiated information to friends and family. The main instigators, however, are fake websites and social media accounts that are specifically created for the purpose, as well as biased media outlets conveying certain political narratives. While this is a global occurrence, the best examples and the impact that misinformation and disinformation have had over the past year can be seen in the United States. A prime example is the anti-mask rallies that raged all over the country. Although occurring worldwide, in the US the rallies were the largest and most widespread. During these mass protests, no masks were worn and norms like social distancing were simply ignored. Demonstrators argued that wearing masks infringes on their personal rights and freedoms. Some alleged that a face mask increases the intake of carbon dioxide and reduces the amount of oxygen in the body, a claim which had been repeatedly refuted by doctors. Most alarmingly, protesters believed that COVID-19 is a hoax, all part of an elaborate political conspiracy. On 23 February, US President Joe Biden announced that more than 500 000 American citizens have died because of COVID-19. More American lives have been claimed by this single pandemic than World War One, World War Two and the Vietnam War combined. Apart from the most deaths, the US has also had substantially more infections than any other country: over
