Distinguishing truth from lies, fact from fiction, information from misinformation in this age of social media on steroids, AI fakery, masters of deception, misinformation slingers and disinformation brokers is extremely important yet preposterously difficult. As legal analyst and former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade argues in her new book Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America, “American democracy will suffer if we don’t distinguish truth from lies.”
“The World Economic Forum has ranked misinformation as its top global risk over the next two years, above extreme weather events and even war,” Nature magazine’s David Adam recently noted in a piece titled “Misinformation might sway elections—but not in the way you think” (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01696-z). “Policymakers around the world have drafted and passed laws and measures in an attempt to combat the growing threat.”
Recently, the powerful Sinclair Broadcast Group picked up the widely-discredited Wall Street Journal story about President Joe Biden’s age and cognitive abilities, and began broadcasting ‘must run’ segments featuring allegations that Biden is showing “signs of slipping” made by — wait for it — former Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy,”
Salon’s Lucien Truscott IV reported that “Sinclair news hosts read from identical scripts describing the Journal’s story as ‘calling into question the mental fitness of … Biden.’ The issue, Sinclair hosts told their audiences darkly, ‘could be an election decider.’”
Misinformation and Disinformation
What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation? According to the American Psychological Association, “Misinformation is false or inaccurate information—[unintentionally] getting the facts wrong. Disinformation is false information which is deliberately intended to mislead—intentionally misstating the facts.”
The key difference lies in intent: misinformation may be spread without malicious intent, whereas disinformation is spread with the deliberate aim of deceiving people.
Misinformation and disinformation can affect elections in numerous ways. Persistent misinformation can erode trust in democratic institutions, including the electoral process itself. Misinformation can flood social media and other online platforms, making it harder for credible sources to be heard. Misinformation about voting procedures, such as incorrect information about polling locations, voting dates, or eligibility, can suppress voter turnout.
Disinformation campaigns can increase polarization and further division. False information can shape the decision-making and actions of voters. Disinformation can be part of efforts by foreign actors to influence the election outcome. Disinformation campaigns often involve smearing candidates with false allegations or exaggerated claims,
Nature magazine’s David Adam wrote recently about “The rise of AI fakery [which] has made more people than ever concerned about the effect of misinformation on elections, particularly because 2024 is a standout year for democracy.”
Adam noted that, “Historians can point to many examples [of misinformation] ... In Ancient Rome, Octavian (adopted son and heir of the murdered Julius Caesar) launched a smear campaign that falsely portrayed his rival Marc Antony as a traitor, as part of a successful bid to become the first emperor of Rome. More recently, misinformation has been blamed for a swathe of social and political trends — from people’s reluctance to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and rising discrimination against migrants, to the Brexit vote for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union and skepticism about the seriousness of climate change.”
According to Adam, “misinformation about the validity of the 2020 US presidential election was amplified and spread by a subset of Trump supporters to trigger the attack on the US Capitol building on 6 January 2021.”
Salon’s Lucian K. Truscott IV recently wrote that “Propaganda used to be a dirty word in this country. Long associated with authoritarian regimes in countries like Russia and China, propaganda as it has been understood over the decades meant centralized control over the way a nation’s citizens access the news — not just the news about the country they live in, but about that country’s place in the world” (https://www.salon.com/2024/06/18/how-a-semi-secret-right-wing-media-empire-is-blanketing-america-with-lies/).
The New Republic also reports that Sinclair “the right-wing media behemoth swallowing up local news stations and spitting them out as zombie GOP propaganda mills, is ramping up pro-Trump content in the lead-up to the 2024 election.” Its “coordinated effort across at least 86 local news websites suggest[ed] that Biden is mentally unfit for the presidency, based on edited footage and misinformation.”
According to The New Republic, Sinclair “has advanced a coordinated story across … its local news websites over the course of June, targeting Biden’s age and physical ability based on social media posts made by RNC Research, a wing of the Lara Trump-run Republican National Committee. But some of the stories went beyond the facts and into the realm of fiction, including accusing Biden of physically freezing and being in a ‘stupor’ during a White House Juneteenth event. Another article baselessly claimed that Biden had pooped himself at a D-Day memorial event in France, all based on a video of the president sitting down, reported freelance accountability journalist Judd Legum.”
Barbara McQuade told Apple News In Conversation guest host Brian Stelter that “The more disinformation there is out there, the easier it is for people to hide behind it and say that everything is fake news. This is sometimes referred to as the liar’s dividend — Because everybody lies, I can lie. I just say it’s fake news if somebody criticizes me …”
Misinformation and disinformation campaigns are playing such a huge role in the 2024 elections that while media watchdogs may try to identify and expose the most egregious examples, the volume and the ubiquity of social media, may make it impossible to make much headway.