Combatting Online Misinformation and Disinformation

How bad is the misinformation and disinformation issue for communicators? Consider this: 70% of Americans say the spread of misinformation online is a major international threat, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. A threat that communicators must prepare for.

If you parse Pew’s survey data by political party affiliation, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the spread of false information online (75% vs. 63%) is a major threat. However, when communications and PR pros combat misinformation and disinformation, the key is to avoid making it a partisan right or wrong issue. The more inclusive you make the dialogue, the more empathy and trust you create.

Last year’s Edelman Trust Barometer revealed “an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world.” So, it’s not like this is a new problem, yet it seems to be getting worse.

As I previously wrote, “in this post-truth era, when misinformation (fake news), disinformation, propaganda, and deep fakes are an everyday concern, ethics are paramount to earning trust.”

Before we get into the role communications and public relations professionals play, let’s begin with some basic definitions:

• Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information.
• Disinformation is deliberately deceptive or harmful information, aka propaganda.
• Mal-information is false but not necessarily with the intention of deception. It’s often based on fact but presented out of context by someone who believes it to be true.
• Fake news typically refers to purely false or made-up information presented as news.^[1] It is “purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged, misleading or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news.”^[2] 
  
  *Note that fake news may be in the form of disinformation or misinformation or a combination of the two, and can often even include a few basic truths to make it more believable.

Disinformation in Society

The 3^rd annual Institute for Public Relations (IPR) Disinformation in Society Report was published just a few months ago (in February 2022). In the release, Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., APR, president and CEO of IPR said, “What surprised us in this year’s survey was the jump in how disinformation is perceived as a major societal issue and the extent to which people believe disinformation affects the election process, mental health, and vaccines.”

One of the report’s key findings is disinformation has a negative impact on society and wellbeing: 71%  said disinformation increases the polarization of political parties, while 63% said it infringes on human rights. It’s somewhat unsurprising that more than half of the respondents (52%) said encountering disinformation makes them feel anxious or stressed.

Another finding that I found particularly interesting is that respondents said politicians (77%) and Facebook (72%) were most responsible for spreading disinformation.

Source

The most trusted sources are also the ones doing the best at combatting disinformation. The report found those sources to be like-minded “people like me” (58%) and local broadcast news (51%).

For providing accurate news and information, mainstream media sources are more considered trustworthy than most social media sites.

Social media misinformation

If you spend any time on social media, you know there’s a problem with both misinformation and disinformation.

Source

A new survey by the United Way of the National Capital Area finds social media misinformation is making Americans less empathetic. 57% said that misinformation on social media has influenced their empathy levels. A further 27% added that they changed their news source due to empathy burning out. Interestingly, respondents from all generations agreed that Facebook was the most important social media platform contributing to empathy burnout —except Gen Z.

Many big tech companies and social media platforms — including Facebook-owner Meta, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Amazon-owned Twitch, Clubhouse and TikTok — have all signed on to the European Commission’s (EU) updated ‘Code of Practice on Disinformation’. The EU Code aims to increase enforcement action against concerted efforts to mislead users through various types of online manipulation. The signatories “have agreed to a series of commitments and to undertake specific measures to address concerns linked to this type of potentially harmful (but non typically illegal) online content,” according to TechCrunch.

In the US, multiple pending pieces of legislation would do something similar. However, when and if any of those will make it into law or regulations is unknown.

So, what’s a communicator to do?

Without a designated authority assuring that online information remains factual, accurate, and isn’t harmful to people, it’s up to communications and PR pros to combat.

Misinformation is rampant on social media, and many organizations and brands find themselves under attack through misinformation, disinformation, and fake news campaigns. These kinds of crises have become all too common.

Bad information can damage a brand or organization very quickly. In some cases, it may blow over just as quickly; however, it can cause long-lasting reputational damage and reportedly costs businesses billions of dollars annually. I’d like to throw the old adage ‘all PR is good PR’ under the bus here. That is certainly not the case!

Never underestimate the power, speed and proliferation of online and social media!

Here are some steps PR and communications professionals can take to mitigate the potential damage.

Be prepared. Phil Singer, the founder and CEO of Marathon Strategies said, “Businesses need to be prepared for a potential attack or risk being caught off-guard…Before a crisis even arises, companies should conduct a comprehensive audit that includes potential adversaries and the company’s vulnerabilities, as it’s important to understand what threat could be used by bad actors. They should use consistent messaging, driven by one dedicated team, to ward off potential disinformation campaigns and mitigate any damage should one materialize as mixed messages can sow more chaos,” in a PR Week article.

Being prepared means creating a crisis communications action plan for multiple scenarios. Identify who will do what and when, how, and where they will do it.

Monitor the news and social media for mentions of your brand. Vanessa Otero, the founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media, said “Knowing the reliability and bias levels of the particular publications your client gets covered in is crucial to understanding how to respond appropriately. Independent third-party tools are available that provide such data about news and political publishers. Many PR pros already use tracking and listening tools to stay on top of media and social media mentions of their clients, but knowing more about the source of those mentions can help you respond in the most intelligent way possible,” in a PRSA article.

Respond quickly and factually. Crisis expert Molly McPherson, APR, told me, “Minimizing online reputational damage comes with speed, not perfection. The first step in countering misinformation that is spreading rapidly online is to refute it unequivocally with indisputable facts and data. On social media, add a response in the reply feature with as few words as possible since a wordy reply can look defensive and prolong the process. Add a properly-vetted response to your own accounts to stop the spread for good.” Molly is the author of Indestructible: Reclaim Control and Respond with Confidence in a Media Crisis and host of the Indestructible PR podcast.

Be sure to communicate what’s happened and what actions are being taken with your internal audience. And don’t be afraid to tap your employees, brand ambassadors and any other ‘loud voices’ to help spread your response and correct the bad information.

Respond across as many channels as possible. Roshni Wijayasinha, the founder and CEO of Prosh Marketing, said “Misleading statements need to be dealt with swiftly, and accurate information needs to be communicated across as many channels as possible, and sometimes multiple times, to help control the spread. Leveraging facts and data to support the newly updated message can also help customers accept it,” in a Forbes Council article.

Of course, every case is different, and your actions should be based on the situation at hand. Ask yourself, what is the level of urgency? Is the problem likely to spread? How is it being spread (via social media)? Has it resulted in media coverage?

Regardless, sitting back and hoping it will blow over is not a strategy!

Conclusion

Looking beyond brand or organization reputational risks, think about your professional and personal integrity. In a recent CommPRO.biz article, Helio Fred Garcia, president of Logos Consulting Group, reminds us all that “Silence in the presence of misinformation [especially those] that risks life, health, safety, and civic order is complicity.”

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.*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on June 28, 2022, at https://burrelles.com/combatting-misinformation-and-disinformation-in-the-post-truth-era/ and is cross-posted here with permission. 

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^Footnotes

^{[1] https://www.allsides.com/blog/what-fake-news
[2] Fake News: Understanding Media and Misinformation in the Digital Age, MIT Press}