Misinformation Pt 1 - An origin story

I plan to write a short series on “misinformation”, because I believe it is one of the major challenges we now face as a society. And I also believe that as individuals there are practical steps we can take to combat it.

In this first post, I want to focus attention on where misinformation comes from. I rarely hear anyone ask the questions: Who wrote this lie? What was their motivation?

Let’s start with some definitions, to be clear what we are talking about.

The terms “misinformation” and “disinformation” tend to be used interchangeably. Misinformation is false information spread either knowingly or unknowingly. Disinformation is false information, spread with the knowledge it is false.  I will use the term “misinformation” because most people I see reposting false information are not aware it is false. They are not the original creators of the misinformation. 

In most cases, two minutes of online research would have confirmed the information was false, and there a case to be argued that individuals have some basic responsibility to verify information is true before reposting it.  But that discussion is for another post!

Apologies in advance for spending so much time framing this discussion, before getting to the point, but I would also like to be clear on what I am not talking about:

·       I am not talking about opinions. Some opinions are more informed and more valuable than others, but opinions are not true or false, or right or wrong. This blog post is my opinion, based on observed facts. Readers can agree or disagree; support or argue against the conclusions I draw

·       I am not talking about propaganda. Institutions of all kinds conduct campaigns to influence, persuade or manipulate. They might be selective with the truth, up to the point they are misleading. But that is not what I am writing about today.

This differentiation is important, because under the current avalanche of misinformation, you hear talk of a “post-truth” era. In my view, this is garbage. There are facts, and facts are different to perception, opinion and spin. To say that nothing is believable anymore, or it all depends on your perception, is a cop-out.

There appears to be a scarcity of research about where misinformation originates. I can see two sources. One source is groups and individuals who are committed to a particular conspiracy theory or world view. It is hard to know where to start with these groups, because they cling so tightly to their beliefs, even in the face of overwhelming evidence they are wrong. The second group has much more straightforward motivations. They are groups backed by authoritarian governments, who target misinformation at democratic and semi-democratic countries.  Their objective seems to be to weaken and divide those societies.

These groups are highly skilled at creating false information that trigger emotional responses. That means they have studied us, and they understand our weaknesses well. They also appreciate that misinformation does not need to be a complete lie to succeed. In fact, a lie that is built on a kernel of truth can be much more believable. 

Facebook is amazingly effective at serving up the right lies to the right people. Their algorithm is designed to show you content that keeps you engaged on their platform.  So, it you worry that your country is heading towards a Marxist revolution, your timeline will serve up content that supports that view, whether it is reputable news or misinformation. 

Imagine you are a marketer who deeply understands your target customer at an emotional level, and you have an advertising channel that magically pitches your product to millions of those exact target customers… for free.  You could sell a ton of burgers or SUVs or mouthwash.  That describes the organised misinformation sector today – smart and inexpensive content creation, coupled with a free, hyper-targeted distribution platform.  You could say now is the Golden Age of misinformation.

In the next post, I will break down a frequently posted piece of misinformation and show the common structure in the content design. 

Whether or not you believe any of this important, there are three excellent questions to ask whenever you encounter misinformation. The first two questions are:

1.   Who created this lie?

2.   What is their motivation for creating the lie?

Trying to answer these question could prove to be enlightening.