Disinformation is defined as “. . . false information deliberately and often covertly spread. . . in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth” (Merriam-Webster). Although espionage and political subterfuge are hardly new phenomena, the breadth and effectiveness of political disinformation campaigns have reached breathtaking new heights, or, rather, depths, during the last five years. In the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union; i.e., Brexit (Swami et al), as well as the election of Donald Trump in 2016, there have been concentrated, far-reaching disinformation efforts which relied overwhelmingly on relatively new social media platforms (Curtis). What is especially disturbing about these recent efforts is they demonstrate collusion between private enterprise, such as Cambridge Analytica (Wylie), social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, non-democratic governments, such as Russia (Linvill and Warren), and far right-wing extremism, such as demonstrated by both the United Kingdom Independence Party and an increasingly radicalized American Republican Party (Curtis).
In some ways these recent disinformation efforts betray a Colonialist attitude, as Cambridge Analytica spearheaded a disinformation campaign in Nigeria as a prototype, before implementing its approach in the UK and US (Wylie). In addition, the spread of misleading or mendacious information often goes beyond the realm of politics, as beliefs in pseudoscience and conspiracy theories continue to proliferate (Oliver and Wood). These pseudo- and antiscientific views range from the merely eccentric, such as flat-earther believers, to the profoundly dangerous, such as is found in Climate Change and COVID-19 denialism (Schweickart). Furthermore, this combination of political and scientific disinformation has led to claims of an advent of a postmodern/post-truth epoch, where disinformation has reached its apogee in a mixture of nationalism, racism, post-truth, science denial, and the melding of right-wing populism with religious fundamentalism, leading to what may be termed as a “new religion” (Myers).
Both the catalysts and the effects of disinformation are frequently intertwined with other far-reaching concepts, such as fascism, Climate Change, and Globalization. As is well known, fascism relies heavily on the notion of the “Big Lie” theory propagated by Joseph Goebbels, but contemporary disinformation dissemination has transcended far beyond anything Goebbels could have achieved (Boggs 108). Additionally, responsible and effective approaches to the existential threat of Climate Change have been hampered by willful disinformation from both industry and right-wing sources (Kolmes). Finally, nationalistic populism has recently become a dominant political force throughout the world – often as a reaction to Globalization. These efforts have been unquestionably assisted by online disinformation campaigns, as well as overtly biased media sources having dispensed with objective reporting, but rather emphasizing ideology, commentary, and entertainment (Bennett and Livingston).
Bibliography:
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