"Fake News," Lies, and Misinformation

Narrowly defined, “fake news” is news that is completely made up, with no verifiable facts, sources or quotes. However, “fake news” is a complex and nuanced problem. The term itself has become politicized, and is widely used to discredit any opposing viewpoint. Some people use it to cast doubt on their opponents, controversial issues or the credibility of some media organizations. In addition, technological advances such as the widespread use of social media, bots, and AI (artificial intelligence) enable fake news stories to proliferate quickly and easily.

The universe of “fake news” is much larger than simply false news stories. Some stories may have a nugget of truth, but lack any contextualizing details. They may not include any verifiable facts or sources. Some stories may include basic verifiable facts, but are written using language that is deliberately inflammatory, leaves out pertinent details or only presents one viewpoint. "Fake news" exists within a larger ecosystem of misinformation and disinformation.

Misinformation

• False or inaccurate information that is mistakenly or inadvertently created or spread
• Intent is not to deceive 

Disinformation

• False information that is deliberately created and spread "in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disinformation). 

Claire Wardle of First Draft News has created the helpful visual image below to help us think about the ecosystem of mis- and disinformation. And as she points out, "it's complicated."

Misinformation and disinformation is produced for a variety of complex reasons: 

• Partisan actors want to influence voters and policy makers for political gain, or to influence public discourse (for example, intentionally spreading misinformation about election fraud)
• More clicks means more money. Some news stories are created by people wanting to generate clicks for financial gain,  regardless of the content  (for example, Macedonian teenagers)
• Political regimes want to advance their own propaganda (for example, Russia’s weaponization of “fake news” in order to control the narrative around its invasion of Ukraine)
• Satirists want to either make a point or entertain you, or both
• The blurry lines between news and entertainment and the explosion of news sites, as well as the pressure of the 24 hour news cycle,  may contribute to shoddy writing that doesn't follow professional journalistic standards or ethics

 
The technological ease of copying, pasting, clicking and sharing content online has helped misinformation and disinformation to proliferate. Generative AI makes it easy for anyone to create extremely believable fake images and news stories. Stories are often designed to provoke an emotional response and placed on certain sites ("seeded") in order to entice readers into sharing them widely. In other cases, "fake news" articles may be generated and disseminated by "bots" - computer algorithms that are designed to act like people sharing information, but can do so quickly and automatically.