Author: Phoebe Ackor
We are living in an age where good judgment isn't enough. Everyone is at risk for being deceived.
Knowing what’s true and what’s false in the media today, is extremely challenging. The hard part is that it might not even present itself that way until it’s gone too far. This oblivion is what allows these lies to spread like wildfire across platforms such as Instagram, Tik Tok, and Twitter. There’s a great risk when anyone is able to share whatever content it is they want, when a majority of the time it's exaggerated or completely fabricated. This is especially concerning when it comes to politics, where fact versus fiction is critical and can have real, lasting consequences.
We can compare the rapid spread of misinformation to a virus, in which David Rapp, a professor from Northwestern University, specifically uses the term “infodemic.” As time goes on and technology advances, things like AI and deep fakes are exacerbating the problem, making it even harder to decipher the truth. Propaganda today, uses the complicated nature of it all to its advantage, overwhelming us to a point where it feels too challenging to seek out the truth and we'd rather just give in.
Not only is misinformation being rapidly spread, but it’s also lasting. Once false information reaches a large enough audience, it is much harder for it to be corrected because you can’t guarantee everyone will see the clarification. It’s also a possibility that when trying to correct misinformation you end up popularizing it, leading to things like conspiracy theories. We see a lot of this in politics, public health, and even general world views.
So, how does misinformation and propaganda work exactly, why is it so dangerous, and how can we protect ourselves from it? Let's find out…
Most people don’t even recognize when they are consuming propaganda because it has been so integrated into everyday life. - Sienna Reinders and Avery Wong
To start, we should know the difference between propaganda and misinformation. Propaganda is deliberately crafted information used with intent to persuade an audience, typically within politics and in the form of signs, ads, or broadcasts. Misinformation, on the other hand, is false information that can mislead people accidentally or purposefully. Both have been taken to a new level in the digital age we live in today.
One of the many reasons propaganda is so powerful today is its ability to disguise itself as entertainment, in things like, viral videos, podcasts, or influencers with large platforms. I highlighted a quote above from Sienna Reinders and Avery Wong’s article, Modern propaganda: hiding in plain sight, because it’s true that a lot of us have become completely unaware of the propaganda we digest on a daily basis—it's baked into our algorithms, but we can’t taste it.
Propaganda "is at the center of one of the worst crises for American democracy this century" - Anne Applebaum
It’s also important to know the different types of misinformation. Yes, there are different types.
- Disinformation: False information that is deliberately created to cause someone harm and can be very consequential when it comes to politics and/or public health.
- Misinformation: False information that is spread without the intent to cause harm. For example, it could be an error or misunderstanding that goes viral in the media and is hard to correct.
- Malinformation: True information that is spread with the intent to harm someone. For example, it could be leaking someone’s address online or any form of personal information that could cause harm.
During COVID-19, misinformation was extremely prevalent and had a significant impact on human behaviors. False claims and conspiracy theories created global confusion and distrust.
A Personal Anecdote
In 2023, the Maine Principals Association reached out to Rockland’s Oceanside Boys Basketball coach after receiving complaints about the team’s unsportsmanlike behavior. The team was winning by large margins, sometimes by 100 points, and their attitude after those wins was unjust. Steve Betts, a local reporter, wrote an accurate, fact-checked piece on the incident. His article said that although the Maine Principals Association hadn’t threatened the team with any consequences, their handbook mentioned the possibility of denying the team the ability to play in the upcoming tournament if the behavior continued.
As soon as the article was posted, Oceanside fans began to exaggerate and distort the information. The exaggerated information began to rapidly spread on Facebook, with people falsely claiming that the team was being banned from the tournament simply because they were “too good” and winning by too many points.
I’m from Rockland, Maine, and I graduated from Oceanside High School, so when I heard this, I was shocked and confused that they would deny a team from playing because of that. The story blew up, beyond our little town of Rockland and began reaching news outlets and a popular podcast hosted by Dana White. People were outraged. Dana White even invited the entire Oceanside team to Vegas, feeling badly for them. The problem with all of this is that the team had actually never been banned from the tournament. The misinformation created a false narrative that spread online like wildfire.
Video of Dana White talking about the Oceanside team
The incident intensified when some mothers from a neighboring team, Belfast, expressed their anger online. During a game where Oceanside played the Belfast team and won, Belfast had been honoring a player who had passed away. The Belfast mothers were hurt by what they felt was unsportsmanlike behavior from Oceanside’s players at a distasteful time. Unfortunately, because of all the anger built up from the misinformation about the tournament, people online attacked the grieving mothers in their comments. These comments said things like, “Your sons are sissies,” or, “Grow a pear.”
All of this outrage happened because of rapidly spread misinformation. Despite the conspiracies, Oceanside’s team ended up playing in the tournament, as they were never being banned in the first place. Ironically in the end, they lost—by a lot. This just goes to show that even in a little town like Rockland, Maine, misinformation can spread, like a plague.
In an age where misinformation spreads faster than ever before, it’s important to always be observant, and confirm the accuracy of all of the content we share and consume on a daily basis. The consequences of misinformation can be significant and impact large audiences when widely spread. To protect ourselves from false narratives we can stay informed, fact-check our sources, and become more media literate. It’s up to us to take responsibility for the information we share and continue to be transparent to avoid the harm that comes with spreading misinformation.
“In a time when society is drowning in tsunamis of misinformation, it is possible to change the world for the better if we repeat the truth often and loud enough." - Alberto Cairo
Resources
- https://scotscoop.com/modern-propaganda-hiding-in-plain-sight/
- https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/07/media/journalist-dangers-of-propaganda-reliable-sources/index.html
- https://www.creatosaurus.io/apps/quotes/topics/misinformation-quotes
- https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/18/20898584/fox-news-trump-propaganda-jason-stanley
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvQGT2tg4jY
- https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2024/05/david-rapp-on-fighting-misinformation/
- https://www.proquest.com/docview/2765328257?pq-origsite=primo&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9114791/
- https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7339a2.htm#:~:text=Vaccination%20Status%2C%20Underlying%20Conditions%2C%20and,19%20vaccine%20dose%20(Table).
Credits:
Created with images by • nito - doctor and the text infodemic in a tablet