In our contemporary world of “alternative facts” and “fake news”, it is more important and… Read More →
In our contemporary world of “alternative facts” and “fake news”, it is more important and yet harder by the day to discern fact from fiction.
Information Moves Fast
Social media has made the spread of information easier and faster than ever, and it’s been proven time and again that bad actors have taken advantage of this and weaponized it for their own uses.
The words “disinformation” (disinfo) and “misinformation” (misinfo) are becoming more common in the discourses around current event news, and it’s important to stay aware of what the words mean and their differences.
The Definitions of Misinformation & Disinformation
Misinformation is the spread of false or misleading information unintentionally.
Disinformation is the deliberate creation and spread of false or misleading information with the intention to deceive or manipulate its audience.
Both misinformation and disinformation can have detrimental effects on their audiences, especially if they go viral enough. Learning to recognize the two on social media and other spaces is essential for all savvy internet users, so as to better protect yourself from being deceived, misled, or even accidentally helping to spread the bad information.
What is Misinformation?
Many times, the people initiating and spreading misinformation don’t mean to. Information moves so quickly on the internet that an assumption made about a post or video, and a quick post in response to it can result in spreading misinformation.
The clearest examples of misinformation often involve misinterpretation. An example of this would be someone posting satire and someone else interpreting it as serious. There are entire accounts on X and Threads, for example, that post silly headlines, but without being aware that it’s a satire account, many people mistakenly share or spread the headline as if it’s real.
The impact of misinformation, even if not intentionally spread, can still be damaging.
An Example of Misinformation:
It’s hard to pick just one example, as social media is rife with them daily. Generated AI images and videos are making matters worse. The GenAI creator may not mean to spread misinformation, but posting AI imagery that misleads people can still cause issues.
A recent example of misinformation that got chaotic in the discourse was when Pepsi posted a controversial post on Threads and it was all anyone could talk about for a day or two.
The post read:
“Pepsi Wild Cherry is what happens when regular cherry stops asking for permission.”
The quip was a riff on a trending empowerment phrase that encourages people to “stop asking for permission”, motivating people to be bold, go after what they want despite others, etc. “Go wild.”
Threads is a platform that leans heavily left and is recently known for heavy discourses around sexual assault and the Epstein files. There were many that misinterpreted the post, claiming the statement “upholds rape culture”, among similar sentiments.
In a follow up post on Threads, Pepsi claimed the post “landed in a way we never intended,” which fits the “unintentional” criteria for misinformation.
But impact over intent is important to keep in mind. Pepsi did apologize, but many are still slow to forgive the brand.
What is Disinformation?
Disinformation carries much more malicious intent, as it was crafted for the very purpose of muddying the waters or misleading people. Disinformation often is created as part of a strategic campaign to manipulate public opinion, distort facts to distract from the truth, or draw attention away from the truth being found out.
Is Propaganda the Same as Disinformation?
Sometimes! Propaganda is the systematic dissemination of information, especially in a biased or misleading way, in order to promote a political cause or point of view.”1
The big difference in disinformation and propaganda is that propaganda can be based in factual information that’s used to mislead or manipulate for political gain, as opposed to disinformation, which is specifically based in false or misleading information and may not be for political purposes.
An Example of Disinformation:
Again, it’s difficult to pick just one example; they’re everywhere constantly these days, so stay aware.
A recent example would be the onslaught of https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/11/politics/fake-ai-images-videos-iran-war at the start of the war between the US and Iran around March 2026.
The fake videos showed captured American soldiers, mushroom cloud explosions, missiles hitting videos, the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia burning, and more.
It’s difficult to say with clarity what the ultimate goal was, but someone took the time to intentionally create the images and videos and share them as if they were real.
The impact was evident, though. There was loud discourse both for and against the war stirred up by these inflammatory videos, and turned into infighting in the comments as people debated the legitimacy of the images.
One could speculate that the goal might have been to distract people from the truth of the war (which was not going as well for the US as depicted), to bolster support for the war among those who would be in favor, and to cause a distraction for those who were against the war so that they could get upset over something that wasn’t real while the real atrocities continued out of purview.
When Misinformation Becomes Disinformation
Fun fact: certain opportunistic malicious actors have been known to take advantage of the spread of misinformation by co-opting it for their own use and helping it spread further.
What Do We Do If We Find Misinfo/Disinfo?
Don’t touch it.
But seriously, do your best not to spread it further. If you have details on why the information is incorrect, sharing the truth can also help combat misinformation and disinformation. Use discretion when doing that, however, because sometimes their goal is just to get engagement. Even negative engagement, like calling them out, gets more eyes on their disinformation and helps them reach their goals.
I’ll be sharing regularly about misinfo and disinfo and how to spot them in the wild, so feel free to subscribe if you like that kinda thing.
Oxford English Dictionary online, https://www.oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=propaganda&_searchBtn=Search