誤情報

Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Whereas misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, disinformation is deliberately deceptive and intentionally propagated. Misinformation is typically spread unintentionally, mostly caused by a lack of knowledge, an error, or simply a misunderstanding, which contrasts with disinformation. Misinformation can include inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or false information as well as selective or half-truths. Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, X, etc., are designed in ways that enable information, including misinformation, to be posted and shared far more quickly than through other communication mediums.In January 2024, the World Economic Forum identified misinformation and disinformation, propagated by both internal and external interests, to "widen societal and political divides" as the most severe global risks in the short term. The reason is that misinformation can influence people's beliefs about communities, politics, medicine, and more. Research shows that several factors, including cognitive biases, emotional responses, social dynamics, and media literacy levels, can influence susceptibility to misinformation.Policies and legal measures created to address misinformation and disinformation, in some contexts, can be applied to restrict journalistic work and limit political expression, as reported by UNESCO and other monitoring organizations. In some countries, anti-misinformation laws and policies have been used to reduce media freedom, which has even resulted in the imprisonment of journalists and editors. The countries ranked the worst for media freedom in 2025 are, in this order, Eritrea, North Korea, China, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Russia, Egypt, Myanmar, Djibouti, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cuba, United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Venezuela, Turkey and Pakistan.The term came into wider recognition during the mid-1990s through the early 2020s, when its effects on public ideological influence began to be investigated. However, misinformation campaigns have existed for hundreds of years.