Misinformation

Impact of misinformation

Misinformation and disinformation can do real harm not just online, but in the real world.

They can shape how people vote, what medical treatments they trust, how they view each other, and whether they feel safe in their communities. Sometimes the goal is to shift beliefs about a specific issue, like public health or climate change. Other times, the aim is broader: to create confusion, cause division, or erode trust in facts altogether.

Why do people share misinformation?

There’s no single reason to explain people sharing misinformation and it’s not always intentional. People often share things that:

• Match what they already believe
• Seem popular or widely agreed upon
• Come from someone they trust
• Sometimes misinformation spreads for personal or financial gain, such as clickbait headlines that earn money through views.
• People with less experience navigating online information (including digital literacy) may be more likely to share false content without realising it

Anyone, even educated people, can be misled by misinformation or disinformation.  In fact, one disinformation tactic is to overwhelm people with conflicting information, until they stop trusting anything. And that, ultimately, is part of the impact: a more divided, uncertain, and less informed society.

Consequences of misinformation

The consequences of misinformation can be far-reaching and impact individuals, communities, and even entire societies. Indeed, misinformation was listed as one of the global risks by the World Economic Forum in its 2024 Global Risks Report.   Here are some examples of significant effects:

Political Impact

Misinformation can damage trust in institutions like governments, electoral processes, media, and even science, making it harder for people to know who or what to believe. 

In the political sphere, misinformation can distort elections, manipulate public opinion, and threaten the integrity of democratic processes. 

In the 1980s, Russian and East German operatives launched a disinformation campaign (codenamed Operation Denver) to spread the rumour that AIDS was a creation of the U.S. government, designed to be a biological weapon against African American and gay communities. The campaign originated with an article published in a pro-Soviet Indian newspaper and, over time, gained traction, eventually being featured on a major nightly news program in the United States. Historians and analysts have argued that this campaign contributed to widespread mistrust in public health messaging which may have cost as many as 300,000 lives.  

Despite a former Soviet Intelligence Director admitting the Russian origins of this rumour,  over 20 years later a survey showed that over a quarter of African Americans believed that HIV is man-made and was created to target Black people, while another 23% were unsure (with only slightly lower rates among Latino and white Americans).  

As well as eroding trust in government departments, disinformation can undermine the population's belief in the legitimacy of an elected government. Examples include Donald Trumps claims of voter fraud and a "stolen election" from Donald Trump after the 2020 US election, and Trump and Elon Musk repeating Russian narratives created to question the legitimacy of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine.

Closer to home, as a way to deal with political mis- or disinformation, the Australian Electoral Commission maintains a Disinformation Register for each election it runs. The register describes the disinformation, the date it was detected, and its source, as well as a true account of the situation and the action the AEC took to respond to the disinformation. The AEC register focuses on disinformation about the electoral processes, not on misinformation spread by political parties or candidates during campaigns.

Click on the plus (+) icons below for other examples of significant effects of misinformaiton.