Disinformation

#Burst the Bubble

#BurstTheBubble: Disinformation Roadmap

• Want to know what Disinformation is?  Start here.
   

• Want to see the IDH's submission to
  Stanford's disinformation fighting initiative?
  That's here.
   

• IDH TV and IDH Podcast episodes on disinformation:
  Coming soon.  (January '22).

What is Disinformation?

Disinformation is false news, designed to misinform. That's a simple definition for a complex problem. 

Who should decide whether news
is "false" or "designed to misinform?"

Increasingly that job is being trusted to algorithms. 

But algorithms struggle to make judgments about facts.

If a government agency classifies the January 6th protest
at the U.S. Capitol as a "riot,"
while a politician describes it as a "protest,"
is either characterization "false news"
which should be censured. 


Algorithms also struggle with context. Is a story that is obviously false meant to be a parody or a satire or is it just false? Should a story from The Onion be censored because an algorithm doesn't get the joke?

Filter bubbles exacerbate the dangers of disinformation. If a person is exposed to too many self-reinforcing stories without being presented contrary information, they will become confused as to what is truth and what is fiction.