Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread unintentionally. It is distinguished from disinformation by motive in that misinformation is simply erroneous, while disinformation, in contrast, is intended to mislead. When comparing misinformation to disinformation, Jurgen Habermas says that the motives play an active role in the effect the information has.
All stories in Misinformation
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The anatomy of a fake news headline
As confrontations between Black Lives Matter protesters and police erupted across the country earlier this month, some Oregonians, ...
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Twitter embeds fact-checking links in Trump's lying tweets
It looks like Twitter's finally had enough of US President Donald Trump's abuse of its platform. Today, keen observers may ...
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Want to find a misinformed public? Facebook’s already done it
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a post pledging to combat misinformation about COVID-19 circulating on ...
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Facebook to notify users who've read coronavirus misinformation
Facebook users who have interacted with coronavirus misinformation will soon get alerts on the platform, the company announced ...
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WhatsApp limits message forwarding to only one person at a time
With the coronavirus pandemic affecting countries all over the world, misinformation is on the rise on the internet. While ...
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Google launches coronavirus news hub to keep reliable coverage in one place
There's no shortage of coverage around coronavirus, but that also means it can get annoying to sift through all the noise. ...
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Roses are red, violets are blue, Google wants that sweet coronavirus ad money too
We all knew it's a matter of time: Google has revealed it'll soon introduce changes to its terms that'll allow certain entities ...
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Social media conspiracies blame coronavirus on 5G internet
Conspiracy theorists are infecting YouTube and Facebook with bogus theories that 5G mobile internet is responsible for the ...
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Social media firms will use more AI to combat coronavirus misinformation, even if it makes more mistakes
Twitter, Facebook, Google, and YouTube will be using more AI to tackle coronavirus misinformation, which they admit will ...
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Coronavirus and the Black Death: Fake news and xenophobia show we haven't learned from our past
Although some media outlets have begun referring to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus as a “modern plague”, the threat ...
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App stores attempt to keep lid on coronavirus misinformation
Google and Apple are attempting to keep coronavirus misinformation to a minimum and are reportedly rejecting or scrubbing ...
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White House asks Silicon Valley for AI solutions to coronavirus
White House officials called on the tech sector to help combat the coronavirus with AI in a meeting with Silicon Valley heavyweights ...
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This algorithm could improve emergency responses by removing lies spread on Twitter
An algorithm that filters out misinformation spread on Twitter could help emergency services respond to natural disasters ...
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Facebook plans to clarify when pro-Bloomberg posts come from staffers
Former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is spending an unprecedented amount of money on his ...
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Twitter tests labeling and correcting 'harmfully misleading' tweets by politicians
The 2016 election was a watershed moment for the spread of misinformation online, so social networks have been exploring ...
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Twitter now lets you report voter suppression -- here's how
Twitter rolled out a new reporting option that allows users to report political misinformation. Here's how you can do that ...
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You're probably more susceptible to misinformation than you think
Online misinformation works, or so it would seem. One of the more interesting statistics from the 2019 UK general election ...
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Instagram's decision to hide photoshopped images is a disservice to art
In a controversial turn of events, Instagram has begun hiding photoshopped images on its platform — even in the case of ...
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Tumblr’s literacy initiative wants to educate people on misinformation and cyberbullying
Yesterday, Tumblr launched its internet literacy campaign to fight fake news and help young people spot other toxic activity ...
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Google removed over 300 Trump ads for ‘violating company policy’
Over the summer, Google and YouTube reportedly removed over 300 ads from President for “violating company policy.”
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Facebook's only fact-checker for Dutch news quits over political ad controversy
Facebook is currently operating without a third-party fact-checker in the Netherlands over the dispute of allowing political ...
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Facebook let anti-vaxxers run rampant with misinformation ads, because money
Earlier this year Facebook said it would crack down on ads from groups peddling misinformation about vaccines. The announcement ...
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Facebook employees object to the company’s policy of allowing lies in political ads
Facebook employees issued an open letter urging Mark Zuckerberg to rethink the company's strategy for regulating paid political ...
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Facebook will clearly label fake news to prevent 2020 ‘election interference'
Facebook updated its policies on the spread of misinformation and released a bunch of new tools to better “protect the ...
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MIT researchers unveil new system to improve fake news detection
Bad actors are increasingly using more advanced methods to generate fake news and fool readers into thinking they are legitimate. ...
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Twitter announces complete advertising ban on state-run media outlets
Twitter earlier today announced it's banned more than 900 accounts purported to be linked to a China-sponsored disinformation ...
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Study: Most YouTube videos on climate change deny its existence
Search for “climate change” on YouTube and before long you’ll likely find a video that denies it exists. In fact, when ...
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WhatsApp's chat manipulation exploit remains unresolved even after a year (Updated)
Vulnerabilities uncovered in WhatsApp by cybersecurity firm Checkpoint can allow bad actors to exploit the platform to manipulate ...
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This AI tool is smart enough to spot AI-generated articles and tweets
Researchers from Harvard University and MIT-IBM Watson Lab have created a new tool that aims to detect whether a specific ...
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The New York Times wants to fight fake news using blockchain – good luck to it
The New York Times has announced that it's working on a "news provenance project" based on blockchain technology in an attempt ...
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Facebook's approach to fighting fake news is admirable, but not sustainable
With the huge EU elections around the corner, the issue of fake news has started to crop up again in headlines -- and Facebook ...
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WhatsApp says its fake news tip line is just for research
Earlier this week, WhatsApp announced that it's launching a tip line in India to verify messages during the election. But ...
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WhatsApp launches a tip line in India to battle fake news ahead of national elections
WhatsApp has launched a tip line in India to which you can send forwards, rumors, and suspicious-sounding messages and have ...
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WhatsApp wants to label viral forwards to rein in fake news - but it'll have to do more
WhatsApp seems to be testing another weapon in its arsenal to battle fake news – a label for messages forwarded five times ...
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Facebook and Instagram will hide pages that spread 'vaccine misinformation'
I'd like to think that everyone who reads TNW knows that vaccines work. That they don't cause autism, as demonstrated time ...
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Pinterest takes the lead in the fight against online misinformation
The battle against misinformation just signed up a powerful, albeit unlikely ally: Pinterest. Earlier this week, the social ...
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It's not just WhatsApp - India's fake news problem plagues several popular social networks
You can't discuss the 'fake news' phenomenon in India without bringing up WhatsApp. The Facebook-owned messaging service ...
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Facebook ousts hundreds of fake news accounts tied to Russia
Facebook today removed multiple accounts, Pages, groups, and Instagram profiles that were related to Russian networks. The ...
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YouTube will fight fake news and conspiracy theorists by linking to reputable articles
While blame for the spreading fake news has often fallen on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, they're hardly ...
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SurfSafe offers a browser-based solution to fake news
In the aftermath of a school shooting that claimed the lives of 14 students and three staff members, students like Emma González, ...
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Elections, fake news, and spam: WhatsApp has a tough year ahead in India next year
In India, most people won't ask you for a business card to get your contact info. Instead, they'll ask you if you use WhatsApp. ...
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'They clearly don't care': Fact-checkers on the state of misinformation at Facebook
After a deluge of fake news began to overwhelm Facebook, it got proactive. The social media platform tapped bi-partisan organizations, ...
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Watch: Google CEO Pichai explains to Congress that Google doesn't make iPhones
Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai today appeared on Capitol Hill to answer questions about a number of issues. Most ...
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Twitter suspended someone for tweeting as George Bush Sr. in hell
George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, died after a long battle with Parkinson's disease on November ...
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Nigeria caught in WhatsApp fake news whirlwind ahead of elections
After numerous infamous cases of people in India and Brazil falling prey to fake news spread on WhatsApp, the problem is ...
