What to Believe
- Feb 28
- 3 min read
How many times have we turned to the Internet to research something or just get basic information and come away with some new knowledge that makes us feel a certain way or believe some truth that we read?
I used to be naive enough to believe that everything I read online was verified or fact checked by the Internet Gods somewhere before it was allowed to be published. Then, as time went on, I came to understand that ANYONE, ANYWHERE can build themselves an amazing looking professional website or add to someone else's post with their own version of the truth and MAYBE that might be true but possibly not. I mean, why put something on the web that's an out and out lie?
Turns out it happens more than we'd like to think. There are literally hundreds of very slick websites whose ONLY purpose is to provide false or misleading information for others to read. According to a resource guide published by the Princeton Library as well as other publications, this is called "information disorder" and falls into three categories:
Misinformation is defined as false, incomplete or inaccurate content which is generally shared by people who do not realize that it is false or misleading. This term is often used as a catch-all for false or inaccurate information, regardless of whether referring to or sharing it was intentionally misleading.
Disinformation is false or inaccurate information that is intentionally spread to mislead and manipulate people, often to make money, cause trouble or gain influence.
Malinformation refers to information that is based on truth (though it may be exaggerated or presented out of context) but is shared with the intent to attack an idea, individual, organization, group, country or other entity.
There are seven common forms of information disorder:
Fake misinformation websites often take similar names to legitimate websites.
Here's a few examples:
AI is now playing a large part in creating "synthetic content" poised to create disinformation cheaply and rapidly. For example, voice cloning AI software was used to create a fake audio recording of Joe Biden for just $1.00 that took less than 20 minutes to produce and went out two days before the New Hampshire primary in January 2024. It was meant to influence the election turnout.
What's the answer?
If you read something that seems "off" on a website, don't share it if it seems suspect. The web is built with algorithms that will propagate information as legitimate the more it's spread.
Check fact-checking websites to determine if someone has already confirmed or debunked the claim. Check sites like:
Snopes
Politifact
NewsGuard Reality Check
Good's FactCheck Explorer
BBC Disinformation Watch
There's also an interesting site Allsides.com that takes current news stories and presents them from the LEFT, CENTER and RIGHT sides. It will even provide both a link to the story but will tell you if the story is coming from a left or right centric perspective or if it's balanced.
As I'm writing this, the news of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed by joint US-Israeli strikes. The site showed three versions of the story as presented in a format that looked like this:
Bottom line - if you read something and it's important enough to share with others or you're depending on the legitimacy of the information, do your due diligence and verify it with other sources. Misinformation is often intentional and can be extremely damaging if handled incorrectly.
I did MY due diligence and gleaned information for this story from several sites including:
The internet is an excellent resource but make sure you use your brain and follow your gut. Some very legitimate looking websites are so fake and intentionally hell bent on trying to influence your thinking that it's important to verify, verify, verify!
Our thoughts and prayers are with the brave men and women in the United States, Israel and Iran involved in today's news.
I read this story, I didn't believe a word of it 😜