The greatest danger to American democracy right now isn’t political parties and partisanship; it’s misinformation. It’s the fact that we still treat lies like free speech and disinformation like an opinion, and we need to stop.
We’ve watched misinformation change from conspiracy theories on Reddit to polished viral content with fake AI evidence that has been broadcast on TV. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, false claims about vaccines and masks cost lives. In the 2020 election, so many deepfakes and disinformation about both candidates spread like wildfire, leading many voters astray.
Let’s not forget that misinformation and disinformation are not the same thing. Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread without the intention to deceive. There is no ill intent behind misinformation, and It can result from misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or simply getting the facts wrong. However, disinformation is when people spread false information with the intention to deceive. Both don’t help the political climate of the U.S. today.
Misinformation isn’t just a social media problem, it’s a structural one. Politicians keep exploiting outrage, not accuracy. And cable outlets give platforms to falsehoods to remain objective, but placing a truth next to a lie does nothing toward reaching objectiveness.
The Biden administration’s attempt to form a Disinformation Governance Board was met with backlash and critics calling it Orwellian. In my opinion, though, doing nothing is worse. Letting lies spread is worse; misinformation is not only spreading, but it’s shaping elections and journalism.
What we need is truth in politics. Taking down posts with false information isn’t censorship; it’s helping enforce the standards of truth and accuracy. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean you have freedom from accountability.
We need media literacy to be taught in every school and in every core subject. As much as people don’t like that our whole world revolves around technology and AI, it does, and we need ways to stop harm to our political climate. We need elected officials to be held responsible for spreading lies or spreading anger about lies.
Let’s stop feeding misinformation, and let’s start fighting it.
