Imagine the following situation:

Michael, an elementary school student, is walking home from school and notices swallows sitting on a power line. When they fly away, they look relaxed and full of energy. This reminds him of how his parents charge their phones in the evening, leading him to conclude that swallows recharge in the same way. In fact, he thinks that probably all birds do.

  • The processes behind wrong conclusions are natural and can happen to anyone. We often see quick generalizations, false analogies, or confusion of correlation and causation even in more serious topics and involving older individuals. One terrorist attack perpetrated by a migrant can lead to an assumption that all migrants are bad. And if migrants are bad because they are "different", then people with different sexual orientations are probably bad too. More liberal views began to emerge in Slovakia, and subsequently, the number of people studying abroad increased – young people are therefore likely leaving due to this perceived excessive liberalism, as a sign of disagreement.

SOURCE: ChatGPT

When Michael meets his friend Jane, he wants to share this information with her. He has no bad intent - he trusts his observation. Unknowingly, he spreads misinformation. MISINFORMATION is false information that a person shares without intending harm. The disseminator sincerely believes it to be true.

  • In more serious examples, an example of misinformation might be an adult who, while walking in the woods, hears strange noises, sees a large footprint, or sees something in the bushes. He assesses the situation, concluding that it is probably a bear and, with good intentions, informs the village mayor upon his return.

Jane is surprised by this interesting fact and remembers it. When she comes to school the next day, she shares the news with her entire class using the exact wording Michael used the day before. However, the misinformation gradually turns into a rumour. We are not used to verifying every single thing that reaches us. In today's fast and interconnected world, that's not even possible. Jane's friends find her reliable, so they have no reason to question her words. Since there has been no correction of the incorrect information, each of her classmates becomes a (potential) channel for spreading the untruth. The growth can be exponential, as each individual can influence several others (such as their siblings or friends at a sport club). A RUMOR is unverified information that does not (necessarily) contain bad intent. Rumors spread through unofficial channels and are distinguished from misinformation by their "viral nature." (1)

  • This process is not unimaginable in the adult world either. The phenomenon of content sharing on social networks has been the subject of several studies. One of them concluded that up to 59% of links are shared without being opened and read. (2) If the mayor announces on the municipal radio that people should be cautious when moving outside the village because a bear has been seen there, the misinformation evolves into a rumour. Many people will automatically believe it since it has been presented by an authority figure. They won't check what noises the original author of the warning heard or what the footprint looked like. They won't investigate whether brown bears are still hibernating at that time. They simply accept (and spread) the information.

When Jane was talking about how birds are robots that charge when they sit on wires, Martin was also in the classroom. He picked up the misinformation from her and became one of those who contributed to the rumour by sharing it. However, when he presented his newfound knowledge to his parents at dinner, they patiently began to explain why he was wrong. They showed him documents and encyclopaedias and even took him to a neighbour’s house so he could pet his parrot. Yet the next morning on the way to school, Martin told his older cousin Lucy that birds are actually robots that charge on wires. Although this information is identical in content to the original misinformation, in the meantime it has now become disinformation. DISINFORMATION is deliberate incorrect information. The disseminator knows that the information is factually incorrect. The goal may be to deceive, influence, confuse, or reduce trust in an authority figure. Disinformation often includes some element of truth to make it seem more believable. Disinformation also includes truthful information that is presented manipulatively or is taken out of context (3).

  • Spreading false information despite being warned of its falsity is not unique to young people. Data from Meta (from last year) shows that 69% of Slovaks complete the process of sharing content on Facebook, and 64% on Instagram, even after the platform warns them that experts evaluated the content as false. (4) An example of disinformation might involve someone recovering from COVID-19 and privately telling loved ones that it was a severe illness and they felt really sick, while publicly declaring that the fuss about the pandemic is unnecessary because it's just a flu.

Lucy, just like her little cousin Martin, knows that the information is not true, but she finds it amusing to spread it further. However, she does not find it sufficient to share with people the simple statement that "birds are actually robots". To make the information more convincing, she decides to imitate news articles. She writes a text in which she incorporates phrases such as "scientists have found" or "the latest research has revealed". She adds some names, dates, and technical titles, and the text is ready for publication. The combination of intent (spreading false information) and form (imitating real news) creates fake news. In FAKE NEWS, the disseminator deliberately misleads the audience and distorts reality. The format imitates real news (5).


SOURCE: ChatGPT

When Mark reads Lucy's article, he is intrigued and wonders how something like this could happen, why it happened, and who might be behind it. Since he has often heard that “the West” is responsible for this and that, the WHO seems quite obvious to him. But WHY would they replace birds with robots? They must have some benefit from it, they probably want to spy on us. But HOW is it possible that others don't know about it? Surely they will silence anyone who tries to speak up. Mark builds a tangled web of reasoning in his mind, connecting each idea. In his theory, the Americans have been gradually replacing live birds with robots with surveillance devices to eavesdrop on people. So far, anyone who tried to reveal this has been silenced, , so he believes it must be "shared until they delete it." It takes very little for a conspiracy to take shape. A CONSPIRACY THEORY is a theory explaining an event as a result of a secret conspiracy. It rejects the generally accepted explanation of events. (6)

  • This example may seem funny - oly children could believe it, right? After all, there is plenty of straightforward evidence to disprove this theory. Well, the same can be said about the theory that the Earth is flat. Yet, in 2023, 20% of people over the age of 16 in Brazil declared that they believe in it. (7)

SOURCE: ChatGPT

Two conclusions drawn from the given example

I acknowledge that the example chosen may seem innocuous. One might think, "Let people believe what they want; everyone is entitled to their opinion." Or maybe not. Beyond what alternative facts do to people's trust in authorities and institutions, propagated untruths may not only lead to differences of opinion, but may also result in action. Two years ago in the United States, 17% of people believed in QAnon (8), and a supporter of the theory killed his own brother because he thought his brother was a lizard. (9) But we don't have to go that far for examples illustrating the real risks. According to a 2023 poll, nearly a quarter of Slovaks (23%) believe that the entire world is, in fact, controlled by Jews. (10) If we recall the manifesto of the shooter from Zámocká street and the targets he primarily chose for his attack, we again see how false information not only shapes a person's opinion, but can also lead them to commit hateful acts.

However, to avoid ending on such a negative note, it's important to recognize that if we were to graphically illustrate the various forms of false information mentioned, we would find that most of the misinformation is not shared knowingly or with malicious intent. The majority of people are simply misled or deceived. Those who share false information, even though they know it's not true, are fewer in number. The people who construct convoluted theories around this misinformation or present it as real news are really just a fraction of the population. So, the next time someone tries to convince you of something you know to be false, keep this in mind and respond with greater leniency.

→ if you want to learn more about the inspiration behind the choice of the example used, you can watch this video:

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SOURCES

1) ČAVOJOVÁ, Vladimíra, PANCZOVÁ, Zuzana and Marína ZAVACKÁ. Rumours, conspiracy theories and misinformation through the eyes of social science. Slovak Academy of Sciences [online]. Available 1.4.2024. 

2)

3, 5, 6) NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY. A short glossary of hybrid threats [online]. Available 1.4.2024.

4) TRANSPARENCY CENTRE. Code of Practice on Disinformation – Report of Meta for the period 01 January 2023 to 30 June 2023 [online]. Available 1.4.2024.

7) STATISTA. Share of people who said the Earth was round in Brazil from 2021 to 2023 [online]. Available 1.4.2024.

8) THE GUARDIAN. SMITH, David. Belief in QAnon has strengthened in US since Trump was voted out, study finds [online]. Available 1.4.2024.

9) THE SEATTLE TIMES. GREEN, Sara. ‘God told me he was a lizard’: Seattle man accused of killing his brother with a sword [online]. Available 1.4.2024.   

10) RTVS. Up to a third of Slovaks believe the most widespread conspiracy theories. It makes them feel special, says psychologist [online]. Available 1.4.2024.

Author: Ivana Ivanová

Illustrations: ChatGPT

Background image: Mediaparts

This piece was published in partnership with PDCS - Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia