The problem with misinformation

Misinformation and disinformation have real-world – human, material and even violent – consequences.  

A study by the independent science and research organization the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) concluded that the insidious spread of misinformation led to at least 2,800 unnecessary COVID-19 deaths and tens of thousands of hospitalizations in Canada. Research has also linked misinformation to vaccine hesitancy. 

Conspiracy theories can radicalize their believers. In 2016, a 28-year-old North Carolina resident entered a pizzeria with an automatic assault weapon in Washington, D.C., convinced by an online conspiracy theory dubbed “Pizzagate” that the restaurant was a front for human trafficking and a child sex ring. The man fired his rifle inside the restaurant to break the lock on a storage room door during his search of Comet Ping Pong pizzeria. The 2023 HBO documentary After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News offers a disquieting view of the effect of disinformation and conspiracy theories in our modern digital world. 

Misinformation is also eroding public confidence in democracy and its institutions.  

Despite consistent and sweeping claims about misinformation and disinformation polluting our entire public discourse, research published in 2024 concluded that widespread exposure to false information does not, in fact, match reality.  Despite the popular narrative about misinformation's pervasiveness, the academic study found a “pattern of low exposure to false and inflammatory content” concentrated amongst “a narrow fringe” of people motivated to seek false information. The research concedes deceptive and extremist content is not negligible. Still, the study emphasizes that untrustworthy websites only accounted for less than six per cent of US citizen’s visits to online news sources surrounding the 2016 US election. 

It’s essential to keep in mind that most news sources are trustworthy. Sure, even a small amount of misinformation can be harmful, but we must be careful – not cynical – about dismissing all information as suspect or fake. We are also not helpless when it comes to sorting fact from fiction.