What Is Misinformation And How Does It Impact Society

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 5, 2025, 5:16 PM

what is misinformation and how does it impact society

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. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Misinformation is false information spread without intent to harm, while disinformation is false information deliberately spread to mislead and manipulate facts. Misinformation spreads quickly on social media because users can easily share false information with a simple click, often without verifying its accuracy, leading to rapid dissemination. Disinformation affects elections by spreading false narratives that undermine trust in the electoral process, influencing public opinion and voter behavior. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mis- and disinformation spread false claims about cures, treatments, and vaccine risks, leading to confusion, lower vaccination rates, and preventable deaths.

The concept of misinformation has recently been subject to a range of theoretical and methodological critiques. Sander van der Linden, Ullrich Ecker and Stephan Lewandowsky argue misinformation has clear and measurable effects and that downplaying them risks compromising fact based public dialogue. A flurry of recent opinion pieces downplay the problem of misinformation in society. Whether it is de-emphasising the role of misinformation in fuelling violence, dismissing the threat of digital technologies in spreading misinformation, or claiming that disinformation is largely a distraction from more important underlying issues. What these pieces have in common are (mis)perceptions of misinformation’s role in causing social ills, its prevalence, impact on behaviour, and epistemic status. In our recent work we have tried to set the record straight and outline why these one-sided arguments can lack nuance and are at times flat out wrong.

At worst they may even unintentionally provide intellectual cover for the current witch hunt on misinformation researchers. Here we take up each of these critiques in turn. It’s important to understand that misinformation can have both direct and indirect impacts, which add up to the total impact of misinformation. Think of the 2024 UK riots, which were initiated directly by a false story on social media. The people involved also likely already held strong anti-immigration and anti-Muslim views, making them susceptible to this kind of misinformation in the first place. The reasons why people hold these views are complex, but it is difficult to ignore that these too are most likely shaped by misinformation (see for example, in a different context the long history...

Misinformation can thus also contribute indirectly by shaping public opinion. Magda Osman, University of Cambridge, Centre for Science and Policy Email: m.osman@jbs.cam.ac.uk This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed... In the last decade there has been a proliferation of research on misinformation. One important aspect of this work that receives less attention than it should is exactly why misinformation is a problem. To adequately address this question, we must first look to its speculated causes and effects.

We examined different disciplines (computer science, economics, history, information science, journalism, law, media, politics, philosophy, psychology, sociology) that investigate misinformation. The consensus view points to advancements in information technology (e.g., the Internet, social media) as a main cause of the proliferation and increasing impact of misinformation, with a variety of illustrations of the effects. We critically analyzed both issues. As to the effects, misbehaviors are not yet reliably demonstrated empirically to be the outcome of misinformation; correlation as causation may have a hand in that perception. As to the cause, advancements in information technologies enable, as well as reveal, multitudes of interactions that represent significant deviations from ground truths through people’s new way of knowing (intersubjectivity). This, we argue, is illusionary when understood in light of historical epistemology.

Both doubts we raise are used to consider the cost to established norms of liberal democracy that come from efforts to target the problem of misinformation. Keywords: misinformation and disinformation, intersubjectivity, correlation versus causation, free speech The aim of this review is to answer the question, (Why) is misinformation a problem? We begin the main review with a discussion of definitions of “misinformation” because this, in part motivated our pursuit to answer this question. Incorporating evidence from many disciplines helps us to examine the speculated effects and causes of misinformation, which give some indication of why it might be a problem. Answers in the literature reveal that advancements in information technology are the commonly suspected primary cause of misinformation.

However, the reviewed literature shows considerable divergence regarding the assumed outcomes of misinformation. This may not be surprising given the breadth of disciplines involved; researchers in different fields observe effects from different perspectives. The fact that so many effects of misinformation are reported is not a concern as long as the direct causal link between misinformation and the aberrant behaviors it generates is clear. We emphasize that the evidence provided by studies investigating this relationship is weak. This exposes two issues: one that is empirical, as to the effects of misinformation, and one that is conceptual, as to the cause of the problem of misinformation. We argue that the latter issue has been oversimplified.

Uniting the two issues, we propose that the alarm regarding the speculated relationship between misinformation and aberrant societal behaviors appears to be rooted in the increased opportunities through advancements in information technology for people... 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. 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.

What Is Misinformation And How Does It Impact Society

People Also Search

Misinformation Is Spreading False, Misleading, Or Inaccurate Information, Often Without

Unlike Disinformation, Which Is Deliberately False And Shared With The

For Example, During Health Crises, Misinformation About Treatments, Vaccines, Or

Recognizing Common Examples Of Misinformation In Today’s Media Is Essential

The Concept Of Misinformation Has Recently Been Subject To A