Question

1. Define misinformation and disinformation in your own words.

2. How does misinformation and disinformation spread online?

3. Name two countries or regions in the world that monitor and try to curb disinformation

4. Briefly explain their efforts. Name three countries where governments are working to spread disinformation? How do they spread the disinformation?

Answer 1

1. Both Misinformation and Disinformation have a similar effect on the spread of fake news in social media. However, the key difference between them is the intent of the person or entity propagating it.

Misinformation is an inadvertent or unintentional sharing of wrong information or facts. Here, the sender doesn't intentionally share a wrong information, but based on his belief or other reasons without checking the authenticity of the data.

Disinformation is a deliberate attempt by an individual/Entity/Governments to spread wrong information in order to achieve their objectives. Here the sender knows that the information being sent out is fake and still chooses to send it.

2. Spreading of misinformation and disinformation has become a major problem in recent times. With the advent of social media, users can easily share a link of news article, pictures or videos which may be false with their vast friend networks. Medium like Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter are widely used to spread false information, news, pictures and videos.

4. Examples of widely known countries trying to spread disinformation are China, Pakistan and North Korea. All of these countries are widely know to employ vast networks of dedicated teams with sole intentions of spreading information which is favorable to their governments. Few examples include chinese attempts to silence Hong Kong protests and South china sea disputes through vast campaign of spreading fake news through social media which included threats of military action, arrests etc., Other attempts include nuclear program of North Korea, Pakistani attempts on Kashmir human rights etc.,. As these attempts are often deployed by governments themselves, it becomes very difficult to detect and regulate these fake information.