What is ‘Disinformation’?

Is the Breakdown of Trust Damaging Our Democracy?

The government has been pushing through a host of undemocratic pieces of legislation, with little pushback. We seem to be sleepwalking towards a more authoritarian, far-right, proto-fascist state. Is it because the electorate is constantly being distracted, or bombarded with disinformation? 

Where do you get your information from? Do you trust the impartiality of BBC news? Is Channel 4 too ‘woke’? Do you read the Mail, or the Guardian? 

Many engage with Twitter. Those looking for some hard-hitting content that denigrates different races and religions and encourages violence, prefer American social media platform, Parler. This was previously associated with Donald Trump supporters, conspiracy theorists, and far-right extremists. 

But many millions get their information from Facebook, often with little understanding of how the platform works. For instance, how many know that Facebook’s algorithms allow it to share articles to all of a user’s followers? If you read an article that contains disinformation, it could be shared with your followers, further disseminating information that is untrue. 

The Dead Cat

In an article by the International Journal of the Press, Ivor Gaber and Caroline Fisher coined the term ‘Strategic Lying’. This is a technique honed during the Brexit campaign and the 2019 election campaign, whereby a politician tells a deliberate lie. It is done with the purpose of shifting the news agenda onto his or her preferred territory. It’s known as the ‘dead cat’, most particularly associated with Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby.

Also known as the “master of the dark political arts”, Crosby was paid £140,000 for four months’ work on running Boris Johnson’s successful 2008 London mayoral election campaign. He’s good at what he does.

Read my article for Kent Bylines.

For articles on Artificial Intelligence, please see First Reith Lecture, and Third Reith Lecture.

For previous Kent Byline articles, I’ve also written on the Covert Human Intelligence Services Act, and Freeports.

I’ve also written for Byline Times on Fighting Facism, Britain’s ‘Divide and Rule’, and The Woman with the Afro – Barbara Beese,