Does anyone remember the house hippo?

Those adorable creatures that only came out at night in your house. They were part of a campaign to educate people on false information. Today we have three different types, misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

Misinformation

Misinformation is false information shared without intent to manipulate. This could be exaggeration as a story is passed along, or something as simple as a typo.

A great example is when news stations issue a retraction after an inaccurate report. For instance, CBC North reported fires caused by burning piles. Each fire burned one square kilometre.

In reality, each fire burned 0.002 square kilometres. CBC did not mean to mislead, and corrected the error as soon as they discovered it.

Disinformation

Unlike misinformation, disinformation is false information that is intended to manipulate and guide people towards specific courses of action. Disinformation is becoming more common as deep fakes and other AI technologies make creating videos and photos easy.

A recent example is the AI generated video of the CN Tower on fire in downtown Toronto. The video had three different clips: a far away view of smoke coming from the tower, a street view of fire breaking out near the top of the tower, and drone footage of the upper floors destroyed. The entire video is less than 20 seconds long and was viewed 20 million times.

There are signs if you know what to look for. The smoke in the first clip is drifting downwards, and none of the vehicles in the second clip have license plates.

Malinformation

Like disinformation, malinformation is intended to cause harm, but unlike disinformation, malinformation comes from truth, but is exaggerated, or is taken out of context.

The article Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide! Is a good example of how malinformation functions. It goes through various negative effects of dihydrogen monoxide use including severe burns, electrical failures, corrosion and rusting of metals. The article further states that this substance is used in nuclear power plants, pesticides, and as an additive to food products. Even worse, companies will dump it into our rivers and oceans with no consequences.

Another name for dihydrogen monoxide? H2O, water. Everything above is true, but when we realise it’s water, those facts aren’t as threatening.

Why do the Differences Matter?

The differences between misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation matter mostly in our response to it.

If someone is spreading misinformation, it’s usually easy to take a minute and educate them about the topic. This holds especially true for instances where the information is trending, like the CN Tower fire.

Disinformation, and malinformation, is spread with intent. The people doing this do not want to be educated and probably won’t listen to you if you try. So, what can you do? Unfortunately, your options can be limited. One option is to report it to the appropriate authority.

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