• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Civic Ed>
  3. disinformation>

Our duty as citizens includes combatting pandemic's digital disinformation

Kathleen M. Carley
M. Anthony Mills
May 14, 2020
Coronavirus disinformation
wildpixel/Getty Images
Carley is a sociologist and professor in the College of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Mills is director of science policy at the R Street Institute, a free-market think tank.

The digital age, like the age of the printing press, has transformed our modes of social interaction — our reading and writing habits and methods of communication and consumption. It is also disrupting long-standing institutions, threatening old hierarchies of knowledge and power.

The benefits of this transformation are manifest. But the near universal availability of information also brings certain dangers. One is the prevalence of disinformation online, and the attendant challenge of discriminating between reliable and unreliable information.

Both the need for reliable information and the dangers of disinformation have been thrown into sharp relief by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The prevalence of disinformation online about the virus — its nature, origins, effects and possible treatments — is not merely anecdotal. Ongoing research allows us to identify, quantify and track digital disinformation, which are necessary first steps in helping address the problem.

So what, exactly, is digital disinformation? And how extensive is it, especially during this ongoing public health crisis?

When inaccurate information is spread intentionally, mainly by malicious actors, that is called disinformation. When inaccurate information is spread unintentionally, often by someone sharing a fake news story without realizing it, that is called misinformation. Since it's often difficult or impossible to determine if a sender knows the information is inaccurate, it's convenient to refer to all such inaccurate information as "digital disinformation."

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

During the pandemic, disinformation has overwhelmed the digital environment. There are hundreds of different disinformation stories circulating worldwide — significantly more than during past crises. Much of this disinformation is being spread by non-human actors referred to as "bots." Bots are used to support influence campaigns so the same disinformation is seen in many venues. According to research from Carnegie Mellon's Center for Informed Democracy & Social - cybersecurity (IDeaS), approximately two-thirds of users spreading fake stories on Twitter are bots. Oftentimes the disinformation is spread by providing a link to a website, a YouTube video or a meme.

Digital disinformation can be harmless or even humorous; take a look at the popular images of swans and dolphins returning to the canals of Venice thanks to social distancing. But it can also be lethal. One popular story touts drinking bleach as a cure for coronavirus. Many digital disinformation stories promote such fake preventions and cures, while others provide inaccurate descriptions of the nature of the virus or the emergency procedures taken by governments to respond to it.

And of course, there are well-known conspiracy theories, such as the one suggesting the virus was manufactured as a bioweapon.

Disinformation campaigns often target minority groups or vulnerable populations, such as senior citizens. But no one is immune. Various members of the public, from celebrities to politicians, often unwittingly consume and share disinformation online. To err in this way is human, of course, but it can have devastating consequences. When it's not deadly, disinformation often provokes fear, anger and polarization.

Governments and private-sector businesses around the world are exploring different strategies to deal with the problem. The European Union employs data scientists to combat disinformation and has insisted that private-sector actors do the same. For their part, social media platforms and internet companies are addressing disinformation by removing posts and videos that are blatantly false or harmful, providing easy access to accurate information or promoting trustworthy sources.

Still, it's not always easy to discern what is accurate or true. Computational social science can help develop methods to identify disinformation and counter it, including techniques to help us read more critically. But these scientific methods must put humans first. Purely artificial intelligence solutions are likely to fail, as there is often a fine line between what is disinformation and what is not.

Human judgment has to play a role.

Ultimately, resilience will depend on an active citizenry. As information consumers, each of us should evaluate information critically: Be skeptical of cures or preventions that sound too good, or government action that sounds draconian or otherwise implausible. Be careful what stories you share online, especially if you know they contain disinformation. Even seemingly innocuous or funny memes can contribute to the spread of disinformation. In other words, exercise good judgment.

We often think of disinformation as something that affects the "public," usually exempting ourselves or those in positions of power. However, just as we are all the beneficiaries of digital information, we are all potential victims of disinformation.

Digital technology certainly allows for greater access to information and more creative and flexible ways to integrate it into our social and political institutions. That does not diminish, but only intensifies, the need to be able to sift through information and judge the good from the bad.

No one is totally immune to confirmation bias or human error, and that includes both policymakers and those who have cultivated deep expertise. This makes it all the more important that all of us — the politicians, the experts and non-experts alike — cultivate the skills needed to discern genuine information from its counterfeit.

From Your Site Articles
  • How disinformation could sway the 2020 election - The Fulcrum ›
  • Twitter adds tool to report falsehoods about U.S. elections - The ... ›
  • Census Bureau opens unique office to fight disinformation - The ... ›
  • Huge partisan divide on attitudes toward media, study finds - The Fulcrum ›
  • Disinformation emerging as a major threat to 2020 election - The Fulcrum ›
  • Disinformation: remain calm and do not spread - The Fulcrum ›
  • Disinformation spreaders should be barred from public office - The Fulcrum ›
  • Warning labels didn't halt spread of Trump's misinformation - The Fulcrum ›
  • Hey, journalists. Does the public trust you? - The Fulcrum ›
  • Almost all Americans agree misinformation is a problem - The Fulcrum ›
  • How do we stabilize our democracy? - The Fulcrum ›
  • Report suggests plan for limiting election disinformation - The Fulcrum ›
  • Disinformation and what businesses can do about it - The Fulcrum ›
  • Report: How to tackle the spread of misinformation - The Fulcrum ›
  • Fact-checking won’t help Americans learn to disagree better - The Fulcrum ›
  • Podcast: Moving beyond news deserts and misinformation - The Fulcrum ›
  • Media and politicians are racing to the bottom - The Fulcrum ›
  • Combatting disinformation at-home and abroad - The Fulcrum ›
  • Battling the effects of conspiracy theories and disinformation - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Coronavirus misinformation is widespread, according to new report ... ›
  • Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center – NewsGuard ›
  • Here's How to Fight Coronavirus Misinformation - The Atlantic ›
  • Why uncertainty about coronavirus breeds opportunity for ... ›
disinformation

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow
Contributors

Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Paul Swearengin

DeSantis' sitcom world

Lawrence Goldstone

Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Steve Corbin

A dangerous loss of trust

William Natbony

Shifting the narrative on homelessness in America

David L. Nevins

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane
latest News

How America gets to a new center

Dave Anderson
55m

Why are we building a new party in California?

Lucie Repova
55m

Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Joe Weston
02 June

Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Our Staff
01 June

Default? Financial crisis? Political theater?

David Butler
01 June

Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

James-Christian B. Blockwood
31 May
Videos

Video: Daughters and Sons

David L. Nevins

Video: Why music? Why now?

David L. Nevins

Video: Honoring Memorial Day

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirst Friday YOUnify & CPL

Our Staff

Video: What is the toll of racial violence on Black lives?

Our Staff

Video: What's next for migrants seeking asylum after Title 42

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Our Staff
01 June

Podcast: AI revolution: Disaster or great leap forward?

Our Staff
25 May

Podcast: Can we fix America's financial crises?

Our Staff
23 May

Podcast: Gen Z's fight for democracy

Our Staff
22 May
Recommended
Video: Daughters and Sons

Video: Daughters and Sons

Big Picture
How America gets to a new center

How America gets to a new center

Elections
Why are we building a new party in California?

Why are we building a new party in California?

Voting
Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Diversity Inclusion and Belonging
DeSantis' sitcom world

DeSantis' sitcom world

Opinion
Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Pop Culture