{
  "researchDate": "2026-10-07",
  "revision": "draft-3",
  "locale": "en",
  "presentation": "overview",
  "assessment": "Qualified explanation · research draft",
  "reviewNeeds": "Source verification, subject-matter and editorial approval pending.",
  "updateTriggers": "New studies, corrected sources or evidence changing the stated finding.",
  "related": [
    {
      "slug": "vaccine-amplification",
      "label": "A documented historical amplification case"
    }
  ],
  "id": "information-and-intent",
  "slug": "misinformation-disinformation",
  "kind": "explainer",
  "topic": "Checking information",
  "tag": "Words & evidence",
  "title": "Misinformation and disinformation",
  "question": "Can we check a statement without assuming intent?",
  "summary": "We can often check whether information is wrong without knowing why someone shared it. Being mistaken and trying to deceive people are different things.",
  "scope": "Here is how we use these words. Researchers sometimes define them differently.",
  "geographicScope": {
    "kind": "undetermined",
    "countryCodes": [],
    "jurisdictionCodes": [],
    "note": "General explanatory definitions; not a finding about any named person, political group or jurisdiction."
  },
  "evidence": [
    {
      "heading": "Misinformation: wrong or misleading information",
      "text": "On this site, misinformation means false factual information, or information that gives a seriously misleading impression. The word does not assume why it was shared. For example, someone might forward an old flood photo believing it shows yesterday’s flood. The photo can mislead even when the person is sincerely mistaken.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ],
      "sourceIds": [
        "wardle-derakhshan-2017"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Disinformation: a deliberate attempt to deceive",
      "text": "We use disinformation when information is deliberately used to deceive people. Calling something a lie also claims the speaker knew it was false. A mistake, repeated statement or disagreement is not enough to prove that. If we do not know the intent, we explain what is wrong with the information.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ],
      "sourceIds": [
        "wardle-derakhshan-2017"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "The same claim can be shared for different reasons",
      "text": "Someone might invent a false story on purpose, another person might share it believing it, and a third might quote it to correct it. Those are different actions. Satire, uncertain findings, an idea not yet tested and disagreements about values are not automatically misinformation.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ],
      "sourceIds": [
        "wardle-derakhshan-2017"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "takeaway": "Show what is wrong and how we know. A claim that someone meant to deceive needs its own evidence.",
  "limits": [
    "These examples explain the words; they are not accusations about real people.",
    "Knowing who said something does not decide whether it is true."
  ],
  "contextTitle": "Why intention needs a separate check",
  "contextIntro": "You might establish that a photo has the wrong date without knowing why someone shared it.",
  "detail": "Before saying someone deliberately deceived people, identify who acted and what evidence supports that claim. The Council of Europe report linked below includes an intention to cause harm in its definitions. Our use of deliberate deception above is a stated choice, not the only definition researchers use.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "wardle-derakhshan-2017",
      "revision": "research-2026-10-07",
      "title": "Information Disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making",
      "publisher": "Council of Europe, 2017",
      "url": "https://rm.coe.int/information-disordertoward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-researc/168076277c",
      "type": "Conceptual research framework",
      "access": "Primary full text assessed in integrated taxonomy review",
      "limit": "Harm-based definitions differ from the site convention. Conceptual framework, not proof of reader comprehension.",
      "retrievedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "locale": "en",
      "geographicCoverage": {
        "kind": "undetermined",
        "countryCodes": [],
        "jurisdictionCodes": [],
        "note": "Harm-based definitions differ from the site convention. Conceptual framework, not proof of reader comprehension."
      },
      "readerTitle": "A guide to misleading information and intent",
      "readerAccess": "We could read the full report.",
      "readerLimit": "Its definitions include intention to cause harm and differ from the site’s definitions. It is a guide to describing information, not a test showing these words improve understanding.",
      "supports": [
        "Misinformation: wrong or misleading information",
        "Disinformation: a deliberate attempt to deceive",
        "The same claim can be shared for different reasons"
      ],
      "limitationsInternal": [
        "Primary full text assessed in integrated taxonomy review",
        "Harm-based definitions differ from the site convention. Conceptual framework, not proof of reader comprehension."
      ],
      "limitationsPublic": [
        "Its definitions include intention to cause harm and differ from the site’s definitions. It is a guide to describing information, not a test showing these words improve understanding."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "dossier": "glossary_drafts.md",
  "supplementalDossiers": [
    {
      "file": "misleading_information_taxonomy.md",
      "label": "Download the terminology research review"
    }
  ],
  "copyReviewedAt": "2026-10-07",
  "readerCopyEdition": "plain-language-1",
  "citationDesignEdition": "publication-first-1",
  "assetDesignEdition": "space-first-1",
  "headline": {
    "text": "Misinformation and disinformation",
    "revision": "draft-3",
    "status": "draft",
    "sourceMessageId": null
  },
  "language": "en",
  "jurisdiction": {
    "kind": "undetermined",
    "countryCodes": [],
    "jurisdictionCodes": [],
    "note": "General explanatory definitions; not a finding about any named person, political group or jurisdiction."
  },
  "claimScope": "Here is how we use these words. Researchers sometimes define them differently.",
  "research": {
    "dossierRef": "docs/research/glossary_drafts.md",
    "reviewedAt": "2026-10-07",
    "reviewDue": "New studies, corrected sources or evidence changing the stated finding.",
    "contraryEvidenceConsidered": [],
    "status": "research draft; editorial/context review separate"
  },
  "status": "researched draft preview",
  "realWorldClaimReviewed": false,
  "clinicalEditorialApproved": false
}