As a result of social media, the traditional news cycle has accelerated. Many people today receive most, if not all, of their news through the major social media networks.
This dramatic shift in consumption habits has increased both the speed and accessibility of information. Now anyone with an internet connection has the ability to either knowingly or unknowingly spread a false narrative. As a result, misinformation, as well as disinformation, has become more prevalent—and thus needs to become more prevalent in our conversations.
As a leader in the social and consumer intelligence fields, Meltwater recognizes its responsibility to help organizations, both public and private, understand misinformation and disinformation and navigate their impacts.
In partnership with NAGC, I had the privilege of hosting a fireside chat between Ben Kessler, Head of Government Solutions at Meltwater, and Christina Nemr, Director at Park Advisors and Disinfo Cloud, to help unpack what public information and public affairs offices can and should do to protect their brands or agencies.
Table of Contents
The Difference Between Misinformation & Disinformation
The Increasing Challenge for Government Agencies
Plan Ahead and Stick to the Facts
Counter False Messages, Don’t Repeat Them
Signs of Misinformation & Disinformation
What Can You Do About Misinformation & Disinformation?
Internal Reporting to Help Stem the Tide of Mis/Disinformation
The Difference Between Misinformation & Disinformation
Misinformation and disinformation have been discussed heavily over the last few months in connection with the U.S. election, COVID-19, and vaccines. On the surface, it seems they can be used interchangeably.
However, Christina Nemr explained during the NAGC conference that it’s not that simple.
She cautioned that while “the results and the impact of both misinformation and disinformation can be the same, the difference between the two terms actually lies in the intent.”
The difference between the misinformation and disinformation is that misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread unintentionally while disinformation is intentionally false information that is spread, designed to manipulate emotions. Disinformation is typically designed to influence social, political, or economic outcomes, and ultimately inflict harm.
This issue isn’t new, but it’s been increasing in visibility over the past few years. U.S. intelligence experts have verified that Russia attempted to influence the outcome of the past two presidential election cycles through carefully organized disinformation campaigns across networks such as Twitter & Facebook through the Kremlin-supported Internet Research Agency.
The Increasing Challenge for Government Agencies
According to the Oxford Internet Institute, disinformation campaigns increased exponentially in 2020 vs 2019. So, where are false narratives coming from? Christina explained that this increase in activity is quite simply “because it's, unfortunately, an effective way to move an agenda forward.” This includes both state and non-state actors who have a specific goal or agenda.
Christina further clarified that disinformation and misinformation come up more frequently “when there is a data deficit or a data vacuum.” For example, when there is a new topic that is complex or is filled with uncertainty, people will have a number of questions and seek quick answers. Christina explained that simplistic answers to these questions can lead to conspiracy theories to help explain complex topics.
She was also quick to point out that disinformation does not always equal a conspiracy theory, “but disinformation does strategically amplify conspiracy theories to advance an agenda.”
Ben added to Christina’s points, saying “if trusted sources do not give answers, others will.”
When good questions don’t have answers and there are no experts to turn to for answers, then there’s an increased likelihood that mis/disinformation will fill the void.
Ben explained that as a source of trustworthy information, communications and public affairs professionals can play a role in eliminating this void.
Christina followed up on this explaining specifically how the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which sits inside of DHS, preemptively planned for harmful narratives and rumor control regarding how to vote and the security of the US election equipment. She continued that CISA proactively worked with various influencers by providing them with very detailed information on the topic. This way, the factual information was able to reach a wide audience quickly and traditional media could also pick it up and refute any disinformation that was occurring.
Plan Ahead and Stick to the Facts
As discussed, data deficits and information gaps lend themselves to false narratives. During the panel discussion, Christina expanded upon this point by saying organizations “can help maximize resources and avoid disinformation resonance by trying to approach [the issue] in a preemptive manner.”
One of her suggestions included monitoring social media to see what’s already being said on social media and various fringe platforms about your organization or topics of responsibility. From there, reach out to your target audience on their ideal platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, or a Reddit ‘AMA’.
Christina cautioned however that due to the speed of information these days, “you never want to be in a position where you have decided to counter a specific campaign, and you inadvertently end up adding fuel to the fire.”
Ben strongly agreed with this assessment and added that you shouldn't depend upon your hunches, but actually look at historical patterns, to predetermine signals as to whether or not you should respond—something he encouraged organizations to do as part of their planning.
Counter False Messages, Don’t Repeat Them
When encountering false narratives, the first instinct is typically to spell out why the claim is wrong or inaccurate, but both experts cautioned against this. Christina explained that by debunking the false claims, you inadvertently repeat them. This repetition can strengthen and boost disinformation, give it more visibility in social media algorithms.
Instead, the suggested approach is to clearly and plainly push out your own message, thereby filling the information gaps that afforded the opportunity for the disinformation to appear in the first place.
The key is to have a fact-based approach that is not designed to not insult anyone's intelligence.
Communications that prioritize transparency, consistency, and truth are important for protecting organizations from falsehoods. For organizations, this means understanding which channels matter most to your audience and engaging with them there consistently.
Additionally, organizations need to be intentional about the narratives they promote about themselves.
Signs of Misinformation & Disinformation
Keeping your eyes and ears open for misinformation and disinformation is vital for all institutions, but in particular government organizations and public information professionals need to be extra vigilant.
With media, social, and consumer insights solutions, communications professionals have advanced ways to understand what's happening in their space and preempt crises.
For example, The Meltwater Suite helps organizations build resilience against misinformation and disinformation through:
- Detection and monitoring, by analyzing vast amounts of social and media data with the ability to filter for mentions from disreputable sources
- Understanding the spread, by providing insights into how and why misinformation and disinformation spread, as well as the influencers involved
- Response and mitigation, by providing real-time alerts and detailed analytics
- Audience understanding, by identifying audience segments and analyzing their receptiveness to false narratives
Ben summarized “there is no formula that says ‘if X and Y then misinformation’ and if ‘A plus B then disinformation.’ Spotting an issue requires looking at the breadth of data available and coming up with enough signals that raise a red flag.”
Christina agreed, adding that communicators should have a baseline understanding of their current presence. This way, when a spike in conversations occurs, you have a clear indicator that something is going on.
What Can You Do About Misinformation & Disinformation?
There are a number of resources available from free tools to enterprise-level solutions that can help track, measure, and understand the impact of both misinformation & disinformation, but most importantly, agencies need to be prepared.
That preparedness starts with understanding your organization’s baseline media presence. For example, public information officers should understand and track how many inquiries they receive on a given topic. This way, you can see if you are suddenly having to correct the record more frequently. Further, maintain a record of how frequently your agency, leadership, and topic of responsibilities are discussed across the entire media landscape—this includes traditional media, broadcast, and social media.
When there’s a spike in conversations or something doesn’t seem quite right, you can refer to your internal baseline records.
With Meltwater, you can set up real-time alerts and be notified as soon as unusual shifts and spikes happen.
We recommend a media monitoring solution that can track conversations across all mediums from TV, radio, and podcasts, to online news, print, and vast social media networks, this way, you have a 360-degree view of what’s happening.
Internal Reporting to Help Stem the Tide of Mis/Disinformation
Building resilience to false and harmful narratives is an iterative process that’s impossible without quantifying and benchmarking brand health and reputation. Organizations that want to build resilience against misinformation and disinformation need precise reporting and accurate data to shape and continuously evolve their communications strategies.
Daily reporting contextualizes the media stories disseminating false narratives, highlighting media angles and assessing impact. Monthly and quarterly reporting investigates trends and patterns behind false narratives, painting a bigger picture of the narrative landscape. With a holistic reporting approach, organizations are able to track the spread of false narratives and their impacts on overall brand or organizational health.
For additional reading on dealing with an ongoing brand and reputation crisis, check out the findings of a similar panel discussion hosted in partnership with Ancestry, Edelman, HP, & Kimpton Hotels.
