CIVIX Explains: Information Pollution

The internet gives everyone in society a voice
in the public sphere.

But when anyone can post anything online,
the result is a lot of information.

Some of this is trustworthy, but a lot of
it isn’t.

On social media and search platforms, all
information is made to look the same.

It can be hard to tell what is from a credible
source, such as a professional news organization,

and what is less reliable.

Social media networks make it easy for wrong
information to spread, which means we hear

a lot about the ‘fake news’ problem.

But what is fake news, exactly?

The phrase gets used to describe all kinds
of wrong information — from articles intended

to deceive people, to misleading memes and
clickbait headlines, to conspiracy theories.

Some people call news reports they don’t
like ‘fake news’ as a way to discredit

reliable sources, which only adds to the confusion.

To understand the problem of wrong information
online, it helps to define and categorize

it.

False information can be sorted into two categories:
misinformation and disinformation.

Misinformation is wrong, but the person sharing
it believes it to be true.

While misinformation can be damaging, its
intent is not to cause harm.

Examples could include a factual error caused
by misunderstanding, a manipulated image,

or a real photo that appears with a made up
story.

Disinformation, on the other hand, is deliberately
false information created and shared to cause

harm.

It has the goal of confusing people about
what is true, and influencing how they think

and act.

For example, a false rumour circulated about
a political candidate that causes others to

doubt their trustworthiness.

Together, all this mis- and disinformation
can be thought of as “information pollution.”

Unreliable stories or posts can be interesting
or funny or spark an emotion that makes us

want to believe and share them with friends.

People contribute to information pollution
by sharing false and misleading content.

Before believing or sharing something, stop
and ask “who made this, and why?”

This is the first step in combating information
pollution to become a more informed citizen.