Misinformation vs Disinformation
                     Misinformation vs 
Disinformation
If you've ever been on the Internet, 
there's a good chance that you've seen 
some misleading or false information 
presented as fact. This is misinformation 
– but it may not be by accident.
Sometimes people try to make 
their false information seem like 
it's true and encourage people to 
believe it. The distinction between 
misinformation and disinformation 
is subtle.
Misinformation is accidentally 
spreading untrue facts about 
things, maybe because of 
something being misunderstood or 
misheard, or just due to someone 
making a mistake.
Disinformation isn't based in fact at all – 
it might even be an attempt to hide the 
truth or present lies as the truth . It has 
more sinister overtones than just 
spreading errors, which also fall under 
the umbrella of misinformation.
Example of Misinformation vs Disinformation
: During the Cold War, there were many 
disinformation campaigns to make it appear 
like certain events happened (or didn't) and 
fool people into thinking that things were 
happening in a way that reality wasn't.
Some anecdotes about what went on during 
these campaigns: American newspapers 
published articles about how popular Fidel 
Castro was among the Cuban population after 
Castro's victory over Fulgencio Batista – which 
could have been untrue propaganda because 
almost no Americans visited Cuba and couldn't 
verify the information.
Also, many Russian scientists claimed to be working 
on weather control technology, which would lead 
people to believe they had more advanced scientific 
knowledge than they did. This created fear within 
other countries who viewed Russia as 
technologically superior compared to them . There 
are several examples of disinformation during the 
Cold War and before, and this is just a brief intro to 
it.
Other examples of misinformation vs 
disinformation: If someone claimed that humans 
don't need oxygen to survive, they might be 
misinformed about how humans breathe – but if 
someone falsely reported that scientists had 
discovered certain evidence proving there wasn't 
oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, then those 
reporters were trying to spread disinformation.
When people talk about "fake news" or "false 
news", they're usually referring to an instance 
of disinformation – not simply information that 
was wrong by accident. A good way to 
differentiate between misinformation and 
disinformation is whether or not there is a 
deliberate attempt to mislead others with 
false information.
Misinformation isn't as bad as disinformation, 
but it still can be dangerous. It's important to 
know the difference between misinformation 
and disinformation so that people don't get 
tricked into believing false things or interpreting 
information in a way that isn't correct.