Confronting Misinformation, Disinformation and Mal-information

How can developing our media literacy support our well-being, our relationships and our democracy?

• What are misinformation, disinformation and mal-information, how do they spread, and what are their impacts? 
• What actions can individuals take to respond to and avoid spreading misinformation, disinformation and mal-information?

• Students will understand what misinformation, disinformation and mal-information are, and the different techniques used to spread them.
• Students will be able to identify actions they can take to prevent the spread of misinformation, disinformation and mal-information.

This lesson is designed to fit into one 50-min class period and includes the following student materials:

• 1 PowerPoint
• 1 handout

In the present day, the information landscape is full of false and misleading content, some of which, like disinformation and mal-information, has been created with the intent to spread harm and manipulate people, and some of which, like misinformation, is created and shared accidentally.  

To capture the extent and complexity of this polluted information landscape, Claire Wardle, a journalism researcher, and Hossein Derakhshan, a journalist, coined the phrase ‘information disorder’. ¹ The coining of this phrase was a response to the widespread use of ‘fake news’, which not only oversimplifies the type of false and misleading information shared and created, but which has also been weaponised by those in power. Politicians globally call content ‘fake news’ to attack and undermine the media when it attempts to hold them to account and prevent the abuse of power. 

All types of information disorder are disseminated through a range of methods, but the advent of the Internet and social media have made it far easier to distribute. So while misinformation, disinformation and mal-information are not new, they are facilitated by advances in technology.

Journalists Julie Posetti and Alice Matthews note,

[T]he arrival of the internet in the late 20th century, followed by social media in the 21st century, dramatically multiplied the risks of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and hoaxes. Both errors and fraudulent content now go viral through peer-to-peer distribution (many-to-many communication), while news satire is regularly misunderstood and reshared as straight news by unwitting social media users. We now inhabit a world with computational propaganda, state-sponsored ‘sock-puppet networks’, ² troll armies, and technology that can mimic legitimate news websites and seamlessly manipulate audio and video to create synthetic representations of any number of sources. ³

This landscape of information disorder sows doubt over what the truth is, reduces trust in reputable media sources, and is dangerous for social cohesion and democracy as people seek out views that align with their own and/or create facts that reinforce their perspectives. Moreover, nefarious actors sow discord and doubt in order to avoid being held to account. 

It is also very difficult to counter the impacts of information disorder. 

Beth Goldberg, Research Program Manager at Jigsaw, notes,

One of the reasons misinformation is so pernicious is its ability to continue to influence thinking long after someone initially sees it. In fact, misinformation often persists even after someone has been shown a factual correction of the false claim. This is because misinformation can be “sticky,” meaning it can have what experts call a “continued influence effect” on someone’s memory and reasoning long after seeing it.

Debunking is especially difficult with conspiracy theories, which are often believed at an emotional, rather than rational, level. ⁴

According to the Debunking Handbook 2020, which was collectively authored by academics from twenty universities around the world, one of the most effective ways to tackle misinformation is to ‘prevent it taking root in the first place’. ⁵

Prevention strategies include ‘simply warning people that they might be misinformed’, ‘encouraging people to critically evaluate information as they read it’ and ‘helping people become more discerning in their sharing behavior’. ⁶

There is also a process known as ‘psychological inoculation’.

Beth Goldberg further explains,

Inoculation protects people against disinformation ⁷ by teaching them to spot and refute a misleading claim. Inoculation messages can build up people’s resistance or “mental antibodies” to encountering misinformation in the future, the way vaccines create antibodies that fight against future infection. ⁸

If people have already been exposed to misinformation, its misleading content can be countered by ‘debunking’ – though, as stated above, this process can be difficult. To be effective, the debunking process must be detailed and must involve giving people the facts, alongside warnings that the content they have encountered is a myth and explanations on how the myth has been used to mislead people.

• 1Claire Wardle, ‘The Age of Information Disorder’, DataJournalism.com (accessed 21 December 2023).
• 2Sock puppets are online accounts using fake identities that are created to deceive others – they might be used to express support for or attack a person or view, and/or to try to shape debates and discussions.
• 3Julie Posetti and Alice Matthews, A Short Guide to the History of ’Fake News’ and Disinformation, International Center for Journalists, July 2018, pp. 1–2.
• 4Beth Goldberg, ‘Can “Inoculation” Build Broad-Based Resistance to Misinformation?’, Jigsaw, 17 March 2021 (accessed 26 September 2022).
• 5 S. Lewandowsky, J. Cook et al. (2020), The Debunking Handbook 2020, p. 7. DOI:10.17910/b7.1182
• 6Ibid.
• 7According to the Debunking Handbook 2020, misinformation ‘is false information that is spread either by mistake or with intent to mislead. When there is intent to mislead, it is called disinformation’, p. 4.
• 8Goldberg, ‘Can “Inoculation” Build Broad-Based Resistance to Misinformation?’, Jigsaw, 17 March 2021 (accessed 26 September 2022).

We have opted to use the terms ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ rather than ‘fake news’ in this unit as this term has become increasingly problematic and fails to capture the extent of the misinformation problem. Journalists Cherilyn Ireton and Julie Posetti explain, ‘the phrase is inherently vulnerable to being politicised and deployed as a weapon against the news industry, as a way of undermining reporting that people in power do not like’. ¹

• 1Cherilyn Ireton and Julie Posetti, Journalism, “Fake News” and Disinformation: A Handbook for Journalism Education and Training, UNESCO, 2018, p. 45.

Depending on your students’ prior knowledge, you may need to provide them with the following definitions before or during the lesson. Consider adding the following terms to your Word Wall:

• Information disorder (noun): A term used to describe how the current information landscape is full of false, misleading, harmful and deceptive information, such as misinformation, disinformation and mal-information. 
• Misinformation (noun): False or inaccurate information that is spread by people who do not realise it is false or misleading. 
  Please note, this term is sometimes used as an umbrella term for all types of false or inaccurate information, shared with intent or not.
• Disinformation (noun): False or inaccurate information that is intentionally spread to mislead and manipulate people, often to make money, cause trouble or gain influence.
• Mal-information (noun): Information that is based on the truth, although it may be exaggerated or presented out of context, that is shared with an intent to attack an idea, individual, organisation or country, etc.

Each lesson in this unit includes a PowerPoint of student-facing slides. The PowerPoints are intended to be used alongside, and not instead of, the lesson plans because the latter include important rationales and context that teachers should familiarise themselves with before teaching each lesson. The PowerPoints include basic content and student-facing prompts from the lesson plans but are minimally designed because we expect teachers to adapt them to fit the needs of their students and class.

Share the following prompt and questions with students: 

‘Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect’

Jonathan Swift, eighteenth-century writer

1. What does this quotation suggest about how falsehood spreads in comparison to the truth?
   • What does it suggest about the long-term impact of this? 
2. How far do you agree with the statement? Explain your view.
3. What evidence do you see in the world around you (including social media/the Internet) that supports or undermines this statement?
4. How, if at all, has what you have covered in this shaped your perspective?

Lead a short class discussion, inviting students to share their responses.

Share some or all of the following content with students to help them reflect on what they can do to challenge and avoid spreading disinformation: 

• Article: ‘Here’s How You Can Fight Back Against Disinformation’ (Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn, Mother Jones, 9 August 2018)
• Article: ‘How to spot fake social media accounts, bots and trolls’ (Tetyana Klug, DW.com, 1 July 2022) 
• Article: ‘Snopes Tips: How to Spot Social Media Bots’ (Madison Dapcevich, Snopes, 25 July 2022)
• Video: Think like a journalist: How to check a story (BBC Bitesize, 3:41)

To help students understand how photos and videos can be manipulated, share one or more of the following, asking them to take notes on the reasons why they should be sceptical about the video/images they encounter: 

• Video: Evaluating Photos & Videos (John Green, Crash Course, 13:18) 
• Article and video: The Problem with Photo Manipulation (GCF Global, 2:23)
• Article and image generator: ‘AI-generated faces look just like real ones – but evidence shows your brain can tell the difference’ (Robin Cramer, The Conversation). If you share this article, you may also wish to show students the website This Person Does Not Exist, which contains examples of AI-generated images of people. 
• Article: ‘Practice Innovations: Seeing is no longer believing — the rise of deepfakes’ (Don Philmlee, Reuters, 18 July 2023)
• Article: ‘AI-generated deepfakes are moving fast. Policymakers can't keep up’ (Shannon Bond, NPR, 27 April 2023)
• Article: ‘Fact check: How do I spot manipulated images?’ (Rachel Baig, DW.com, 1 May 2022)

Share some or all of the terms from the glossary Information Disorder: The Essential Glossary with students to introduce them to important terminology that can help them understand and discuss the world of misinformation, disinformation and mal-information. Invite them to consider why, as Claire Wardle states in the glossary, ‘[d]efinitions and terminology matter’, before inviting them to share how the glossary terms connect to, extend and/or challenge their knowledge of misinformation, disinformation and mal-information. 

To help students process the terms, you might ask them to create posters featuring terms of their choice that can be displayed in the classroom or around the school to inform students about the dangers of information disorder. You might also invite them to add ideas on how to respond to misinformation, disinformation and mal-information from the lesson content. 

Review the selected timeline of ‘information disorder’ through the ages contained in A Short Guide to the History of ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation, and select some examples that cover the broad breadth of the timeline to share with students, inviting them to reflect on how the spreading of false information has changed throughout history.

Teach students content from our lesson Addressing Antisemitism Online from our unit Discussing Contemporary Antisemitism in the Classroom. This two-part lesson is a means of helping students to develop as responsible and critical Internet users, who understand how content shared online, such as memes, can be used to spread hateful messages and manipulate those who encounter it. In the first part of the lesson, students reflect on how they consume and share information, and on the power of the Internet meme. Then, in the second part of the lesson, students look at specific examples of antisemitic memes, reflecting on the messages they send and the feelings they seek to provoke in the viewer/reader.

Watch the Netflix documentary The Great Hack with students. As they are watching, pause the film, inviting them to discuss what they have seen and then take notes. You might also invite them to use the Connect, Extend, Challenge thinking strategy. Then, invite students to write an article or speech or create a poster about what they have learnt. You might also ask students to work in groups and create presentations that they will then present to the class.