Disinfo-WHAT? This Teen Breaks Down 3 Key Terms

(For their first video for the Teen Fact-Checking Network India, Season 2, Keisha N.T and Nikhil Mathew-Arora decided to talk about three commonly misunderstood words.)

Hello, dear news consumers!

Did you know that fact-checkers don’t really like the term “fake news”?

They prefer to get a little technical and use words like misinformation, disinformation and malinformation.

Difference Between Misinformation & Disinformation

Let’s explain through the incident of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s “death”.

Last year, news outlets and social media users shared posts falsely claiming he had passed away.

They didn’t verify before sharing. This is misinformation.

If people share the same false information with an intent to gain attention, it is disinformation.

If people circulate a movie clip claiming to show their last moments in the hospital, this is malinformation.

So there you have it folks, the differences between words that sound alike but aren't.

There are other terms as well like misleading content, falsified context, but that’s for another date.

So, stay aware, stay skeptic.