University of Kwazulu-Natal

The Real World Consequences Of Misinformation Disa

Bonisiwe Shabane
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the real world consequences of misinformation disa

The Internet’s Double-Edged Sword: Navigating the Labyrinth of Misinformation The internet, a transformative force in human communication, has democratized information access like never before. It connects billions across continents, offering unprecedented opportunities for knowledge sharing and collaboration. However, this very interconnectedness has also created a fertile ground for the proliferation of misinformation, posing a significant threat to individual well-being and societal stability. This pervasive issue demands urgent attention and multifaceted solutions to safeguard the integrity of information in the digital age. The ease with which information can be created and disseminated online has blurred the lines between truth and falsehood.

Misinformation, defined as false or inaccurate information spread regardless of intent to deceive, thrives in this environment. While outright disinformation, or intentionally misleading information, poses its own set of challenges, even unintentional spread of false narratives can have devastating consequences. The sheer volume of information online, coupled with the speed at which it travels, makes it challenging for individuals to discern credible sources from fabricated ones. This “infodemic,” as some have termed it, erodes trust in institutions, fuels social divisions, and can even incite violence. Social media platforms, designed to connect and engage users, have inadvertently become major conduits for misinformation. The algorithms that power these platforms often prioritize engagement over accuracy, inadvertently amplifying sensational or provocative content, regardless of its veracity.

This creates echo chambers where users are primarily exposed to information that confirms their existing biases, further entrenching them in potentially false narratives. Moreover, the anonymity afforded by online platforms emboldens some to spread misinformation without fear of accountability, exacerbating the problem. The consequences of misinformation are far-reaching and can manifest in tangible harm. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, misinformation about the virus and its treatments led to dangerous practices, including the ingestion of bleach or other toxic substances. Similarly, false narratives about vaccines have contributed to vaccine hesitancy, hindering public health efforts. Beyond health, misinformation can also impact political discourse, influencing elections and eroding trust in democratic processes.

It can damage reputations, incite violence, and undermine social cohesion. Misinformation is spreading false, misleading, or inaccurate information, often without malicious intent. It differs from disinformation, which is intentionally deceptive, but the effects of both can be equally harmful. In an age where information travels rapidly through social media, news outlets, and online platforms, misinformation can easily reach and influence a vast audience, shaping opinions, behaviors, and even policies. The impact on society is significant: misinformation can lead to public confusion, mistrust in reliable sources, and harmful behaviors, particularly in areas like public health, politics, and science. Combatting misinformation requires awareness, digital literacy, and a critical approach to the information we consume and share, making it a crucial issue for individuals, communities, and institutions.

Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information that is shared, often without the intention to deceive. Unlike disinformation, which is deliberately false and shared with the purpose of manipulation, misinformation is typically spread by people who believe the information to be true. This distinction is essential because misinformation, though unintentional, can still have harmful consequences. In today’s digital age, misinformation can spread rapidly through social media, news sites, and online messaging apps, reaching large audiences in a matter of minutes. People may share a post or article without verifying its accuracy simply because it aligns with their beliefs or because it seems credible at first glance. This can lead to a chain of sharing that amplifies the misinformation, potentially influencing public perception, spreading confusion, and even leading to misguided actions.

Misinformation can have significant impacts, especially in sensitive areas like public health, politics, and science. For example, during health crises, misinformation about treatments, vaccines, or preventive measures can lead people to make unsafe choices, harming individuals and public health efforts. Similarly, incorrect information about candidates or voting procedures can influence public opinion and even election outcomes in politics. Addressing misinformation is challenging but crucial, requiring digital literacy, fact-checking, and an informed public capable of critically evaluating information sources. In the age of rapid digital communication, information reaches people faster than ever. However, this ease of access to information has also led to an influx of misinformation—incorrect or misleading information shared widely, often unintentionally.

Today, misinformation can spread across social media, news websites, and messaging platforms, reaching millions in seconds and influencing beliefs, behaviors, and even policies. Recognizing common examples of misinformation in today’s media is essential to navigate an increasingly complex information landscape. For the last decade, policymakers, journalists, and scientists have continued to alert us of the threat of misinformation for making sound decisions in the political, health, and environmental domains. In this study, we evaluate whether perceiving misinformation as a threat affects media use, particularly considering selection of media sources that are politically aligned. We show which groups are more likely to be concerned about misinformation and find experimental and correlational evidence of an impact of concern on greater use of politically aligned sources among Democrats. We also found no evidence that perceiving higher ability to detect misinformation decreases this association.

Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, USA Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, USA Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, USA Misinformation concern, or worry around misinformation prevalence or impact, varies across demographic groups and does not always correspond to the reality of misinformation prevalence. Although concern may encourage people to seek accuracy, which is valuable (e.g., Rathje et al., 2023; Pennycook et al., 2021), a high level of concern may not be on par with the reality of... For example, according to Jungherr and Rauchfleisch (2022), exposure to common journalistic coverage of misinformation, labeled as “alarmist discourse,” or reporting that is out of proportion with reality (see Carlson, 2020, for more on...

However, up to this point, knowledge about the potential negative effects of concern with misinformation is rather limited. One important finding is that exposure to misinformation and a media emphasis on misinformation prevalence decreases trust in the media (Ognyanova et al., 2020). However, actual information-seeking outcomes, such as implications for use of media sources, have not been ascertained. The impacts of mis/disinformation extend far beyond politics. This growing cyber threat has the potential to impact us all, evading our conscious analytical thinking. No one is inherently immune from the negative effects of mis/disinformation.

It has evolved into an unfortunate and pervasive reality of our hyperconnected world. Mis/disinformation can undermine trust, sever relationships, incite fear and panic, undermine security, manipulate decisions and influence people’s actions. Its consequences extend far beyond the screen—impacting individuals, communities, organizations and even national stability. Mis/disinformation is more than just “fake news.” Mis- and disinformation are terms used to describe false information. Misinformation refers to incorrect information shared without malicious intent, often spread inadvertently. In contrast, disinformation is deliberately crafted and disseminated to deceive or manipulate.

The critical distinction lies in the intent behind the content. While it’s often discussed in the context of modern media, the presence of mis/disinformation didn’t originate with the emergence of social media, the internet and 24-hour news cycles. False information shaping human decision processes, belief systems and subsequent actions on a large scale goes back centuries. Disinformation that greatly influenced American civilization was that of Benjamin Franklin during the Revolution against the British. Franklin, indirectly through an unbeknownst agent, inserted false information in the “Supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle” that the British were committing atrocities against the Native Americans. He aimed to influence the British citizens against Britain.

The language used by Franklin to describe the acts of violence against the Native Americans was intended to incite emotions of anger and disgust in a situation of which the British public was mostly... Franklin took advantage of a lack of awareness by inserting false information to influence the war. During the Cold War, the Soviet government disinformed populations, initiated by using a rogue scientist already supporting a similar narrative, to spread lies about the United States creating AIDS. This disinformation was intended to decrease public trust in the U.S. government. The narrative continued at length until the president of the USSR ordered its intelligence officers to discontinue Operation Infektion, the code name for the effort.

The idea is still alive among conspiracy theory circles. Misinformation and disinformation can do real harm not just online, but in the real world. They can shape how people vote, what medical treatments they trust, how they view each other, and whether they feel safe in their communities. Sometimes the goal is to shift beliefs about a specific issue, like public health or climate change. Other times, the aim is broader: to create confusion, cause division, or erode trust in facts altogether. There’s no single reason to explain people sharing misinformation and it’s not always intentional.

People often share things that: Anyone, even educated people, can be misled by misinformation or disinformation. In fact, one disinformation tactic is to overwhelm people with conflicting information, until they stop trusting anything. And that, ultimately, is part of the impact: a more divided, uncertain, and less informed society. The consequences of misinformation can be far-reaching and impact individuals, communities, and even entire societies. Indeed, misinformation was listed as one of the global risks by the World Economic Forum in its 2024 Global Risks Report.

Here are some examples of significant effects: Disinformation Is the Real Threat to Democracy and Public Health Disinformation abounds, and it can kill. Fortunately, it can often be unambiguously identified By Stephan Lewandowsky, Sander van der Linden & Andy Norman House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) speaks to reporters before heading into a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S.

Capitol on September 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. Disinformation is the coin of the modern realm. Vaccine denial, climate denial, election denial and war-crime denial have joined the grotesque denial of the Holocaust in the ranks of dishonesties now regularly foisted on the public. We can, however, do something about this crisis of the information age. Corresponding Author: Milad Ahmadi Marzaleh, Email: miladahmadimarzaleh@yahoo.com Received 2025 Mar 25; Revised 2025 May 1; Accepted 2025 May 20; Issue date 2025 Aug.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. “Misinformation” is the dissemination of false information without the intention to mislead. Those who share this false information may believe that the information is true, useful, or interesting, and have no malicious intent toward the people they share it with.1 Health “misinformation” can be divided into three different types based on its accuracy, each of which poses risks to individuals and society. The first type of misinformation involves the dissemination of completely incorrect health information that can lead to harmful health decisions. The second type of misinformation refers to the spread of health pseudoscience, where some elements of truth are presented in a misleading way, leading to incorrect conclusions.

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