Fact-Checking Toolkit: What is Dis/Misinformation?

“fake news, n.”. Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, September 2023, <https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3351660493>

Disinformation, also called propaganda or fake news, refers to any form of communication that is intended to mislead. The information in the communication is purposefully false or contains a misrepresentation of the truth. It is meant to influence how people think about political candidates, social concerns, and a wide variety of other topics. Disinformation can be used by individuals, companies, media outlets, and even government agencies. While it might seem as if disinformation is a contemporary issue, it has actually existed for centuries.

Types of Disinformation:

• Misleading content, or information and half-truths presented in such a way as to place a person or an issue in a negative light.
• Imposter content, or information from a source that deliberately impersonates a known and trustworthy source.
• False content, where legitimate, truthful content is mixed with intentionally false content to give credibility to the false content.
• Fabricated content, or information that is composed completely of information the source knows to be false.
• False connection, or information that implies something in a headline, photo, video clip, or caption that is not a fair representation of the body of the article or other content.
• Manipulated content, or content that is intentionally altered to create a false impression. An example is photo-shopping an individual into a photo at an event where they were not present.

Quoted from Ungvarsky, J. Disinformation. Salem Press Encyclopedia.