THE INTERNET and social media have created the ideal conditions for a huge increase in false information and conspiracy theories.
The terms “fake news”, “false information”, “misinformation”, and “disinformation” sound similar, but each has a different meaning. All of them can cause severe harm offline, especially because digital literacy and digital policy are both currently unable to keep up with the pace of change.
The Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated how susceptible we are to information not entirely true or based on assumptions or deliberately altering a particular narrative to serve a powerful force. The best lie is the one containing the most truth, omitting just one small bit of falsehood that has a significant impact.
The University of Cape Town, IT Division, in a newsletter during Cyber Security Month in 2020, has stated the following below. Here is a quick overview of the types of false information out there:
Fake news: “Experts recommend that
