disinformation

Also known as disinform, disinfo

Disinformation is false or misleading information deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic deceptions and media manipulation tactics to advance political, military, or commercial goals. Disinformation is implemented through coordinated campaigns that "weaponize multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value judgements—to exploit and amplify culture wars and other

AI overview

Disinformation is deliberately false or misleading information spread to deceive people or gain political, economic, or military advantage, often through coordinated campaigns that use a mix of outright lies, partial truths, and manipulated media. It matters because these deliberate deception tactics can cause public harm and exploit social divisions for strategic gain.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

1,396 papers

Disinformation: A Bibliometric Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Wang S, Su F, Ye L et al.DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192416849
Disinformation about diet and nutrition on social networks: a review of the literature.Nutricion hospitalaria · 2025Segado Fernández S, Jiménez Gómez B, Jiménez Hidalgo P et al.DOI: 10.20960/nh.05533
Misinformation and Disinformation in Food Science and Nutrition: Impact on Practice.The Journal of nutrition · 2023Diekman C, Ryan CD, Oliver TLDOI: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2022.10.001
Misinformation? Disinformation?Journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery : official journal of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons · 2022Bertolami CNDOI: 10.1016/j.joms.2022.06.009
The scourge of disinformation.Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology · 2022Alawi FDOI: 10.1016/j.oooo.2021.12.005
Health Disinformation.Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research · 2024Zalpour A, Adibi P, Zare-Farashbandi FDOI: 10.4103/ijnmr.ijnmr_411_23
Concerning disinformation.British dental journal · 2024Hassall DCDOI: 10.1038/s41415-024-7969-4
Addressing Mis- and Disinformation on Social Media.Review2023Purnat TD, Nguyen T, Briand S et al.DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-27789-4_9

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Wikidata facts

Image: Disinformation and echo chambers.jpg

Show 3 more facts

Commons category: Disinformation
P8168: Aleksandrs Koliņko
P13411: September

Sources (11)

via Wikidata · CC0

~28 min read

Article

25 sections

Contents

Etymology
Operationalization
Comparisons with propaganda
Practice
Worldwide
Soviet disinformation
Russian disinformation
Chinese disinformation
American disinformation
Disinformation in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
Response
Responses from cultural leaders
Ethics in warfare
Research
Consequences of exposure to disinformation online
Alternative perspectives and critiques
Strategies for spreading disinformation
Disinformation attack
Internet manipulation
Exploiting online advertising technologies
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

In contrast, misinformation refers to inaccuracies that stem from inadvertent error. Misinformation can be used to create disinformation when known misinformation is purposefully and intentionally disseminated. "Fake news" has sometimes been categorized as a type of disinformation, but scholars have advised not using these two terms interchangeably or using "fake news" altogether in academic writing since politicians have weaponized it to describe any unfavorable news coverage or information.