Coalition For Truth

Misinformation is the spread of false or inaccurate information that is intended to be misleading or deceptive. The rate at which misinformation is prevalent has been increasing over the past few years, especially on social media platforms. Misinformation could be done both deliberately and accidentally. 

There are several reasons why misinformation is inadvertently spread.

Misinformation could be spread “accidentally” if the person who is spreading it is susceptible to cognitive biases that could make misinformation more appealing to some. These cognitive distortions could make a person more likely to believe and accept what they are spreading. Another factor is intuitive thinking. Intuitive thinking makes people more likely to rely on quick judgments that are influenced by cognitive distortions because they appear to be more believable instead of critical thinking. People are also more likely to spread misinformation if the source from which they base their information is what they consider credible or reliable, without fact-checking more. 

There are also many reasons why misinformation could be spread deliberately. The deliberate spread of misinformation could be attributed to various strategic, influence-based, and commercial reasons. Political actors could spread misinformation for political advantage over public disclosure. Political regimes could also utilize misinformation as a means to spread propaganda, destabilize political opponents, and promote an agenda. Throughout history, there have been many cases in which misinformation was used as a means to spread an agenda. An example of this would be Nazi Germany, USSR, 1994 Rwanda and much more. Some actors could spread deliberate misinformation for financial gain. Clickbait or sensationalist content, which could increase views and website traffic, could translate to revenue. Misinformation could also be used to influence stock prices or other financial markets for profit. 

However, it is important to note that misinformation has perilous consequences. Some of the consequences include distrust in the media, undermining the democratic process, conspiracy theories, and the spread of false science. To start, when an audience is exposed to a high volume of misinformation that undermines media integrity, it could create general skepticism and distrust in existing media sources, even if the information is accurate. Fake news do oftentimes targets mainstream media by accusing them of bias or incompetence to promote their alternate agenda. This will further erode trust between media institutions and the audience.

Misinformation could also undermine democratic processes by undermining trust in the media. Misinformation attacks public confidence in things like elections, institutions, media, and government processes. This makes the public more likely to lose faith in various systems and structures that retain democracy, further increasing the chance of contrarianism or adopting alternatively harmful beliefs. By undermining existing belief systems, misinformation could also undermine scientific understanding or scientifically derived medical remedies in favor of alternative, false, but ineffectual systems, which often leads to perilous consequences. 

This is why it is very vital to combat misinformation and understand the psychological factors, political conditions, and logical fallacies that leads to it’s prevalence.