Misinformation and disinformation
What is Context ?
How young people experience life online
Misinformation is created or shared without someone realising it is incorrect. Disinformation is content that has been created to deliberately mislead people.
The difference depends on the knowledge and intention of the person sharing. For example, misinformation is someone sharing an old video of a riot, believing it is happening right now.
It is disinformation if the person sharing the riot video knows that it is dated, but they present it as current in order to mislead others.
Misinformation and disinformation can be shared through:
- social media posts
- forums
- news websites
- memes
- live streams
- AI-created media, like deepfakes
- viral messages, like group chats
- online gaming
Some online communities are based on sharing or creating misinformation and disinformation.
Motivations and risks
Risks
Disinformation can be used to scam and financially harm others, using techniques like:
Disinformation can be used to radicalise a child or young person through:
Some new technologies or features of platforms can be used to create and spread disinformation like:
Motivations
Reasons a child or young person might engage with misinformation or disinformation include:
- curiosity
- being misled or deceived
- a limited understanding of fact-checking
- distrusting mainstream media
- joining a community or movement
- being vulnerable, for example, mental health issues or a learning disability
It is common for a child or young person to see misinformation and disinformation when online. Learning to question content can help children and young people develop critical thinking skills. For example, a young person could fact-check and look for other sources when they see a news article that makes a surprising claim. They might also think about the motivations of the person sharing content. These skills are part of being media literate. They can help a child or young person stay safer online.
Young people’s voice
Young people’s experience of the context
Having searched on both TikTok and then Google for information about Michael Jackson, when she did get search results, Amber still was not sure how to work out what was most likely to be trustworthy.
I don’t know [which one to believe]…Like I can ask people what they think and see how many people will say yes or no… like the more people who say yes [makes it trustworthy] but I don’t know.
OFCOM Children's media lives 2023
...somebody’s taken some news but they’ve changed it... or if they’ve just completely made something up and... put it out for the world to see and then people think it’s real but it’s not.
Fake news and critical literacy: National Literacy trust 2018
Where young people explore misinformation and disinformation online
Read more about misinformation and disinformation
Share your experience of misinformation and disinformation
You can tell us about:
- other terms you might have heard
- conversations you’ve had with young people
- a related platform or app
- another related risk or harm