For all the virtues of social media, it is also a breeding ground for the dissemination of fake news, misinformation — and now “disinformation”.
Social media has taken a tougher stance on this topic of late, but users still need to be vigilant they are not sharing inaccurate information.
Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn of Mother Jones explains that: “Disinformation is false information that is deliberately created with the intent to mislead someone or cause harm. It falls under the larger umbrella of misinformation, which is defined as any kind of false information.”
In this article, he also talks to five experts on how to spot and react in the presence of disinformation, as well as offering a handful of fact-checking sites and resources.
“Disinformation can take any shape or form, whether it’s a false article masquerading as real news, a viral meme, a video, tweet or Facebook post, or even an audio message," he writes. “That can make it tricky to spot, but most of these posts share a common characteristic: They’re designed to make you react.”
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