Dis-, Mis- and Malicious Information

What is DMMI?

As we collectively hurtle deeper into the current post-truth, anti-expert era, screaming as we go, it seems now would be a good time to understand the differences between a few terms that are regularly tossed about: disinformation, misinformation and malicious information or DMMI.

These all relate to types of bad information. Stuff that you don’t want to be basing decisions on, and that ideally needs to be nipped in the bud before it spreads out of control. As intimidating a task as that might sound, the best thing we can all do is make sure we understand the difference and how to interrogate the information we come across.

Disinformation
This is the deliberate, purposeful and knowing spread of false information.

For example, let’s say John doesn’t like Sally. Sally is up for a promotion. John makes something up (a lie) about Sally that might jeopardise her promotion. John tells everyone that Sally is pregnant.

John has fabricated false information and is distributing it, knowing it is false, with the purpose of making Sally look bad. That’s disinformation.

Misinformation
This is when false, or misleading, information is spread but the intent isn’t necessarily to mislead. Those spreading the information may not realise it is false.

Going back to John for a moment; John reads a social media post that says women get paid more than men for less work. John reposts this, spreading it further. While the information is a fabrication, John didn’t check this and resposted it though he wasn’t targeting anyone specifically with the intent to cause harm.

Malicious information
Sometimes called malinformation, this is when the information is based in reality and used with the intent of causing harm to a subject (a person, organisation, country etc).

On this occasion, John knows their boss holds a poor view of working mothers and tells him boss that Sally has a young child at home, in the hopes it endangers her promotion. Sally does have a child so John’s information is based in reality, and he’s using it to try and cause damage to Sally.

Hopefully, from the examples above, you can see how each type of DMMI might appear or be used in more other situations.

Digging Deeper

If we want to explore further, and if we have the time, energy or need to do so, we can interrogate dis-, mis- and malicious information that we come across to understand where it’s come from, what it’s trying to do and what the impact of it could be.

One framework that we can use to do this is SCAME.

- Source
- Content
- Audience
- Media
- Effects

Let’s take a look at some questions we can ask for each of these.

Source
This is where the information came from, or who it came from.

What category can we put the source into? Are they known, unknown or something other than they claim to be? What else can we determine about the source? Consider the actor, author, authority, authenticity and credibility.

Content
What is the message behind the information? What could be its objective? Is there a consistency of message? What lines of persuasion are being used? What is the level of quality of the content?

Audience
Think about the different types of audience for this information: who are the apparent audience, the intermediate audience or the un-intended audience?

Media
What type of media has been used to spread this information and why? How frequently does this information appear? Where is it appearing? Do you know the place of origin? What technical characteristics and capabilities would be needed to put the information out there as it has been?

Effects
Consider the different types of effect in relation to the objective of the information. What are some of the apparent effects, unintended or periphery effects?

Working through the SCAME framework can help you develop a deeper understanding of the bad information you encounter. This may be useful for your own curiosity, or it could provide valuable insight to protect yourself or your organisation from being led astray, or even targeted by bad actors.

It’s important to keep yourself educated and aware; it’s also important to keep yourself safe and sane. If the only way you can cope with the tragic volume of dis-, mis- and malicious information surging around us every day is to unplug, tune out and step back, do so. You are under no obligation to join the fight, and if you choose to engage, protect yourself and your mental health. Avoid burnout, counter the horror with some comfort and stay strong.