The UK’s Sky News reported on an accusation that Russia had been respopnsible for spreading coronavirus disinformation.
Russia has been accused by an EU monitoring team of amplifying the spread of conspiracy theories over COVID-19.
The country responded by denying the allegation, accusing the EU, ironically, of “fake news”.
Sky News YouTube Channel
At The Global Herald, because we take news from a variety of commercial and state-funded outlets around the globe – to help build a picture of how events are reported – there has already been an answer to this from Russian state-sponsored broadcaster, Russia Today, in this item on coronavirus disinformation, here.
What’s the difference between Misinformation and Disinformation?
Misinformation – this is any incorrect information, perhaps in error, which is shared without malicious intent. For example, people trying to be helpful, but actually sharing bad advice.
Disinformation – this is deliberately false information, distributed in order to give people a false impression. For example, a Secret Service producing deliberately bad medical advice via social media, in order to destabilise trust in social media as a source of information.
It is easy to see how modern methods of communication allow disinformation to turn into misinformation, as every user is given a mechanism to amplify and share messages.
It is always important to ascertain the original source of any information you consume – and, particularly, share online.