The Truth Behind Misinformation: Why We’ve Been Looking at Misinformation Wrong
On June 2, 2020, in a research article published by Harvard Kennedy School, scholars found that being exposed to political misinformation, or fake news, online can change people’s attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, the study found that:
“…online misinformation was linked to lower trust in mainstream media across party lines. However, for [political] moderates and conservatives, exposure to fake news predicted a higher confidence in political institutions. The mostly right-leaning fake news accessed by our moderate-to-conservative respondents could strengthen their trust in a Republican government. This was not true for liberals who could be biased against such content and less likely to believe its claims.”
In the past few years, especially during and after the pandemic, where misinformation of all sorts and its impact are exposed to us more than ever, countless studies like the one above have proliferated on how misinformation influences our lives. The results of such research increasingly demonstrates how misinformation can control and direct our behaviors, bending them into the directions we otherwise would not consider.
Indeed, such studies provide us with the necessary digital literacy against misinformation and many reasons why we should care about the information we consume and be mindful in sharing information with one another. What many studies do not show, however, is what information they used in the experiment and what information is considered fake news or misinformation.
Is ‘Misinformation’ not simply Misinformation?
In Misinformation, Disinformation, and Online Propaganda, published by Cambridge University Press in 2020, the term misinformation is defined as the following:
“The terms “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “propaganda” are sometimes used interchangeably, with shifting and overlapping definitions… we define misinformation as constituting a claim that contradicts or distorts common understandings of verifiable facts. This is distinct conceptually from rumors or conspiracy theories, whose definitions do not hinge on the truth value of the claims being made.”
The definition of misinformation, however, is not a unanimously agreed upon by even reputable leading sources. With every article or piece published on the topic of misinformation is an accompanying definition of the word misinformation embedded within.
For instance, UNHCR in their Factsheet on the topic describes misinformation as “false or inaccurate information [including] rumors, insults and pranks.” On Purdue University’s web page, misinformation is defined as “False or misleading information, unintentionally, presented as fact. When one believes something is accurate, but in reality, it is not”; while, according to an article published by the University of Washington Bothell, misinformation is defined by Dictionary.com as “false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead.”
With such a plethora of competing variances of the definition, it is clear how contested a term “misinformation” is, and underlines the urgency of questions around its definition, including: What is considered misinformation? What is the intent behind it? What terms falls under or out of the definition?
Perhaps we can begin by revisiting the basics of misinformation. Misinformation is always associated with news and social media, and it is often used in a technical or scientific setting. We talk about misinformation because we study it in journalism and in social sciences. However, we often forget that misinformation, in itself and in essence, is not a fact but the opposite of a fact: it is abstract and conceptual. In a sense, defining misinformation is a philosophical exercise, and somewhat like the pursuit of truth: we all think we know what it is, but when asked to come up with a definition, we begin to question if we really understand the term at all.
Why the Definition of Misinformation Matters
If we cannot agree on a definition for the term, does it mean that misinformation does not exist? Misinformation will continue to make its presence in our lives. However, the definition of the term is not to be overlooked whenever we try to educate ourselves on the subject matter. Misinformation, disinformation, rumors, and fake news, each study conducted on such subjects can have its own interpretation of the term, and with each clearly defined definition, such a study can yield a result that is specific to the situation.
Misinformation is, after all, not a factual term. It is a term we invented to define the opposite of truth. But what is truth? With each of our different perceptions of truth, there is a different definition of misinformation. Without understanding what misinformation is, we cannot understand the hard work researchers have done to help us understand its impact — we will be taking their work and understanding them out of context and therefore create misinformation while trying to understand how to avoid it.
What is misinformation? What is its opposite? How do we reach its opposite through studying it?
Indeed, with no single scientific theory or definition of the term, the journey to fully reach the truth, whether to present it or to understand it, seems impossible. It may seem that no piece of information can be presented without being misrepresented, and no information can be understood without being misunderstood. However, by understanding and accepting that the definition of misinformation can be infinite, we are making a crucial first step by training our eyes to look at the nuanced details of a piece of information, admitting our limitations, and, through this process, perhaps beginning to build bridges from facts towards a greater understanding of our selves, our realities and our relationships.
References:
Altay, S., Berriche, M. and Acerbi, A. (2023) “Misinformation on misinformation: Conceptual and methodological challenges,” Social Media + Society, 9(1), p. 205630512211504. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221150412.
Factsheet 4: Types of misinformation and disinformation — UNHCR (no date). Available at: https://unhcr.org/innovation/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Factsheet-4.pdf (Accessed: March 29, 2023).
Guess, A.M. and Lyons, B.A. (no date) Misinformation, disinformation, and online propaganda (chapter 2) — social media and democracy, Cambridge Core. Edited by N. Persily and J.A. Tucker. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/social-media-and-democracy/misinformation-disinformation-and-online-propaganda/D14406A631AA181839ED896916598500 (Accessed: August 20, 2020).
Library guides: News: Fake news, Misinformation & Disinformation (no date) Fake News, Misinformation & Disinformation — News — Library Guides at University of Washington Libraries. Available at: https://guides.lib.uw.edu/bothell/news/misinfo (Accessed: March 29, 2023).
Ognyanova, K. et al. (2022) Misinformation in action: Fake news exposure is linked to lower trust in Media, Higher Trust in government when your side is in power: HKS Misinformation Review, Misinformation Review. Available at: https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/misinformation-in-action-fake-news-exposure-is-linked-to-lower-trust-in-media-higher-trust-in-government-when-your-side-is-in-power/ (Accessed: March 29, 2023).
