4 Mistakes To Avoid When Combating Health Disinformation

In an effort to combat misinformation and disinformation, some leaders confuse or conflate the terms.

Here are four mistakes to avoid when combating disinformation:

1. Failure to clearly define terms: Misinformation is false information that one spreads because they believe it to be true, whereas disinformation is information one spreads even though they know it to be false. In an effort to combat misinformation and disinformation, some leaders confuse or conflate the terms. Additionally, leaders sometimes falsely apply these labels to online discourse that is angry or polarizing but not necessarily spreading false information.