Misinformation and Disinformation

Well researched curated media for an audience curious about this topic

Social Media

Communications

Psychology

18 selections

Public Policy

Why does it matter?

Disinformation is certainly nothing new (particularly in the form of propaganda), but the use of social media as a medium of distribution has propelled misinformation to new and terrifying heights.

Entry points

Why people fall for misinformation

How Disinformation Is Taking Over the World

Selected articles and texts

Primer

5 min

News: Fake News, Misinformation & Disinformation

In the media, terms like misinformation and disinformation get thrown around as if they mean the same thing, but are they actually? And if so, what’s the difference?

University of Washington

Analysis

15 min

How disinformation evolved in 2020

A broad-scope report from the Brookings Institution highlighting 5 key attributes of disinformation in 2020, including an in-depth discussion of the cat-and-mouse game being played between social media networks and bad actors.

Brookings Institute

Article

10 min

Disinformation Has Become Another Untouchable Problem in Washington

U.S. government agencies recognize that disinformation is a huge national security threat, but the term ‘disinformation’ itself has become politicized, leading to gridlock and inaction instead of robust policy.

New York Times

Analysis

15 min

How ‘Big Disinformation’ Can Overcome Its Skeptics

This article from the Atlantic focuses not only on disinformation, but also on how attempts to combat it can sometimes do more harm than good.

The Atlantic

Compilation

10 min

What Stanford research reveals about disinformation and how to address it

A very useful and thorough compendium of all the research done by Stanford scholars about disinformation, broken down into subject area: disinfo and democracy, tips for stopping the spread of disinfo, and disinfo and health.

Stanford University

Analysis

15 min

It's Not Misinformation. It's Amplified Propaganda

This analysis focuses on debunking the claim that misinformation comes from bots and foreign operatives - DiResta believes that real people will happily spread lies themselves.

The Atlantic

Analysis

10 min

Combating weaponized misinformation

Analyzes misinformation from a business perspective, outlining risk factors and how to protect business from information attacks.

Deloitte

Paper

15 min

Information and Disinformation: Social Media in the COVID‐19 Crisis

An analysis of social media in times of crisis, explored through the lens of COVID-19. The authors acknowledge that there are several advantages to having social media in a pandemic situation, but also observe that disinformation has the potential to run rampant when people are scared and confused.

Academic Emergency Medicine

Paper

45 min

The spreading of misinformation online

This paper, from data scientist Michela del Vicario and colleagues, analyzes the dissemination of fake news from a data perspective. The authors offer up an explanation for what causes greater virality of misinformation.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Paper

30 min

Brave.Net.World: the Internet as a disinformation superhighway?

This academic article from 1996 correctly identifies the Internet as a potential spreader of disinformation, long before this problem became real.

The Electronic Library

Deep dive: long form content to further your understanding

The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread

This book looks at the phenomenon of 'fake news' from a psychological standpoint, arguing that social factors, not individual psychology, is most important when trying to understand why misinformation spreads so quickly.

Journalist and author Peter Pomerantsev "takes us to the front lines of the disinformation age," with a special focus on Russia and how the Kremlin is once again building power through propaganda - but this time with the power of social media behind it.

This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality

How Big Tech benefits from the disinformation panic

This episode of Vox Conversations features a discussion about the role of big tech companies in the proliferation of disinformation and why they are in no rush to slow it.

Listen here

Communications professor Whitney Phillips sits down with NPR to talk about how the US can push back against disinformation and restore trust in institutions.

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What Does It Take To Combat Disinformation?

How to recognize disinformation and how to stop it

As a former digital marketer, Deb Lavoy has plenty of experience with the potency of misinformation. Her TEDTalk breaks down the best strategies for recognizing disinformation and what we can do as a society to end it.

Misinformation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

A comedic yet informational look at misinformation, focusing on both its prevalence in immigrant diaspora communities and the indifference of the social media platforms it spreads through.