Untangling the Web

Doubt, confusion, polarization, and outrage — these are some of the strongest feelings created by online misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. And that is the point.

Social media posts, online articles, and fake news websites are created by bad actors in the internet world to leave you feeling confused, unsure, and even possibly scam you out of money or personal information. People and automated systems (called bots) are purposely trying to pull you into polarizing arguments and confuse you about news and controversial topics.

If you feel like it is becoming increasingly hard to tell fact from fiction, truth from falsehoods, and genuine people from internet bots and trolls, you are not alone. Statistics Canada reported in 2023 that two in five Canadians feel this way too.

Learning to recognize attempts at misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation are the first steps in protecting yourself and bettering your internet experience.

How to Spot Bad Information Online

So, how do you spot bad information? How do you discern misinformative and manipulative messages from more truthful and accurate information on the World Wide Web? What are the red flags to look for?

Red Flag #1

The posts and messages are trying to trigger a strong emotional response or outrage you in some way. They are usually attacking someone, making polarizing comments, and sometimes even inciting hate and violence.

Red Flag #2

The posts are making bold and controversial statements about current news and events. Deep fakes (fake images or videos made to look like real world celebrities and political figures) are often used here and tend to link to fake news websites and other malicious internet pages.

Red Flag #3

Does the information or title of the article feel a bit clickbait-y? (“You’ll never guess what this celebrity is using for their new super diet.”) Does the offer seem too good to be true? (“You would never believe the returns I got by investing using this app.”) The intent is to incite your curiosity and make you click through to their page, which may be a scam or a malicious site.

What You Can Do to Protect Yourself

The simplest way to protect yourself is to always use your critical thinking. Pause and look at the post or article and ask yourself if it feels like it is trying to mislead you, incite an emotional reaction, or convince you to click to see or buy something.

Consider the source. Have you heard of this person or website before? Do they have a good reputation? Don’t be afraid to use a search engine like Google or Bing to see what information is
out there.

If the post is on social media, see how long the person has been on the platform, if there are typos in their writing, or if they are using recycled or stock images. These are all strong indicators that the author is a bot or an account created specifically to troll and spread bad information.

And lastly: don’t reshare these forms of bad information! Resharing creates what the American Psychological Association refers to as “the illusory truth effect,” where repetition of false claims increases the belief in these false claims.

But don’t let these bad online actors scare you. The internet still has so much that is wonderful and safe to share (you can never go wrong with sharing a cute cat video or two). Keeping a critical eye on what you hear and read, recognizing the red flags, and looking into sources when necessary will help curate your internet experience into the pleasant and entertaining one it is meant to be.

The Government of Canada distinguishes between 3 types of “fake news”:

• Misinformation includes factual errors, inaccurate reports, and selected half-truths. Misinformation is typically not malicious in intent, though it can still cause harms.
• Disinformation is in intended to cause harm, cause damage, manipulate, and guide people/organizations/countries in the wrong direction.
• Malinformation is information that stems from the truth but is highly exaggerated or taken out of context.

Jonathan Schieman
Digital Marketing Specialist, ARTA