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To combat false and misleading information
it can be useful to recognize the different
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shapes it can take. Here are five common forms
of mis- and disinformation to look out for.
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Fabricated. A story or claim that
is fictional is called fabricated
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content. People can invent stories
for political reasons but the most
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common motive is money. A website's
owner benefits from the advertising
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that appears beside their content. The more
clicks they get, the more money they make.
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Imposter. Imposter sites try to fool people by
imitating credible news organizations. The URL
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and logo of a well-known site may be changed just
a little so people believe they are looking at
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the real thing. The goal is to mislead people
into trusting and sharing faulty information.
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Click bait. A click bait headline is designed
to provoke enough curiosity the people can't
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resist clicking to find out more. Click bait can
spark interest by using exaggeration, emotional
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language, or creating suspense. The reason
behind click bait is to earn money from ads.
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Manipulated. Manipulated content is real
information that is altered to change its
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meaning, such as a photo or video that
is made to depict something not shown in
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the original. Visuals are immediate
and tend to appeal more strongly to
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our emotions than words so it's an easy
way for misleading information to spread.
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False context. False context is when a
real photo is paired with an inaccurate
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story. This is one of the most common forms
of mis- and disinformation. An unaltered
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image can easily become misleading with the
addition of a false headline or description
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Knowing the vocabulary of information pollution is
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an important step in becoming
skilled information consumers.
Amplifying Voices
