Disinformation campaigns

Kate Starbird

But eventually I began to see how disinformation networks were warping online conversations and global political discourse, and I changed my research focus. Years later, the sorts of misconceptions that had led me to discount disinformation continue to hamper responses to the threat.
Perhaps the most common misconception is that disinformation is simply false information. If it were, platforms could simply add ‘true’ and ‘false’ labels, a tactic that has often been suggested. But disinformation often layers true information with false — an accurate fact set in misleading context, a real photograph purposely mislabelled. The key is not to determine the truth of a specific post or tweet, but to understand how it fits into a larger disinformation campaign…
Historically, manipulating journalists was a primary strategy. Now, social-media platforms have given voice to new influencers.

this happens also in science despite fact checking, peer review and meta-analysis.

Reminder to myself: Start a collection of scientific myths, their gurus and how they came to an end