Disinformation is more than just false information—it’s a calculated effort to deceive. Unlike misinformation, which spreads by accident or ignorance, disinformation is crafted with precision to manipulate public opinion and sow confusion. Its architects in the right-wing media ecosystem and elsewhere often exploit existing divides—political, social, or cultural—using these cracks in the foundation of society to achieve their aims. Whether the goal is political dominance, economic advantage, or simply the unraveling of trust, disinformation thrives in the chaos it creates. And in today’s digital landscape, it spreads like wildfire, fanning the flames of discord faster than ever before.

But disinformation isn’t just about fake news or conspiracy theories. It’s a full-blown strategy, weaponized by those who understand how to pull the levers of media, technology, and emotion to get what they want. It doesn’t need to be entirely false to do damage—sometimes a well-placed half-truth or a twisted fact is all it takes. The aim is to make us question what’s real and undermine our ability to discern truth from fiction. And this is where vigilance and education come in, arming us with the tools to resist these tactics. In the following disinformation dictionary, in addition to the disinformation definition I’ll break down some of the key terms and tactics used to muddy the waters of truth.

Disinformation Dictionary of Psychological Warfare

The cat is well and truly out of the bag in terms of understanding how easily wide swaths of people can be misled into believing total falsehoods and even insane conspiracy theories that have no basis whatsoever in reality. In their passion for this self-righteous series of untruths, they can lose families, jobs, loved ones, respect, and may even be radicalized to commit violence on behalf of an authority figure. It starts with the dissemination of disinformation — a practice with a unique Orwellian lexicon all its own, collated in the below disinformation dictionary.

Disinformation is meant to confuse, throw off, distract, polarize, and otherwise create conflict within and between target populations. The spreading of falsehoods is a very old strategy — perhaps as old as humankind itself — but its mass dissemination through the media was pioneered in the 20th century by the Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union, the Nazis in Germany, Mussolini‘s Fascists in Italy, and other authoritarian regimes of the early 1900s through the 1940s.

After World War II and the Allies’ defeat of Hitler, the role of disinformation lived on during the Cold War. The Soviet KGB were infamous for their spycraft and covert infiltration of information flows, while the United States experienced waves of anti-Communist paranoia and hysteria fueled by the spread of conspiracist thinking. Psychologists, social scientists, and others did their best to unpack the horrors revealed by the reign of the Nazi regime with a wellspring of research and critical thought about authoritarian personalities and totalitarianism that continues to this day.

The John Birch Society rides again

In some ways, we haven’t really moved on yet from the Cold War — in fact, some appear not to have moved on since the New Deal and are hellbent on rolling its provisions back, almost 100 years later. The dregs of the John Birch Society — an organization famously too koo-koo even for William F. Buckley, who excommunicated them from the conservative wing of the Republican Party — live on today in a reconstituted form known as the CNP, or Council for National Policy.

Founded officially in 1981 after almost a decade down in the political trenches radicalizing the right, the CNP is the shadowy organization pulling the strings of many of the set pieces in puppets in today’s political play. In alliance with other powerful networks including the Koch empire, the NRA, and the Evangelical church, the CNP is the group behind the recent hysteria out of nowhere about Critical Race Theory in public schools (where it is not taught).

They are funneling the money of America’s billionaires into absurdist theatrical displays of performance artists who distract America with bread and circuses while the plutocrats make off with the cash in the form of tax cuts, tax breaks, tax carve outs, tax loopholes, tax policy, and other wealth-building sweetheart deals for themselves and their cronies.

The CNP, in partnership with Charles Koch’s massive database of all American voters (and of course, his money), have managed to brainwash the Evangelical flock and various assorted MAGA groups into believing a raft of nonsense from climate change denial to anti-masking to the Big Lie about the 2020 election and much more.

They have leveraged new political technology in order to recruit and radicalize new cult members quickly and at now digital scale — via QAnon, Fox News, the even more extreme aggressively partisan coverage of Newsmax and OANN, and a fleet of “grassroots” astroturf operations peddling their brand of seditious aspirational theocracy to ruralites like it was going out of style… on accounta it is.

US 2024 elections disinformation

As the U.S. now sees the 2024 elections in the rearview mirror, it’s ever more clear the impact of disinformation campaigns on American politics. These orchestrated fakeries are becoming more sophisticated and widespread, targeting voters across social media, messaging apps, and even AI-generated content. These efforts aim to confuse voters, suppress turnout, smear candidates, and undermine trust in the electoral system. In today’s highly polarized environment, disinformation is not just a tool of foreign interference but also a domestic weapon used to influence election outcomes. Understanding these tactics and how they operate is critical for protecting democracy and ensuring a fair election process.

Here is a guide to the main types of election interference disinformation campaigns in progress, so you can be forewarned and forearmed as much as possible:

• Voter Suppression and Confusion
  False information is often spread about when, where, or how to vote, confusing voters about eligibility or tricking them with fake polling place closures (see: right-wing operative Jacob Wahl convicted for telecommunications fraud for a voter suppression campaign in MI, NY, PA, IL, and OH in 2020).
• Candidate Smear Campaigns
  Bad actors fabricate scandals, use manipulated images or videos (“deepfakes”), and spread false claims about candidates to damage their reputations.
• Foreign Interference
  Nations like Russia, China, and Iran are expected to use fake social media accounts, amplify domestic conspiracy theories, and send targeted messages to influence U.S. elections.
• Undermining Election Integrity
  Disinformation campaigns spread false claims of widespread voter fraud, misrepresent election security, and attempt to delegitimize results with premature victory declarations or “rigged” election claims.

Platforms and Methods

• Social Media and Messaging Apps
  Disinformation spreads rapidly on platforms like Facebook, Twitter (X), TikTok, WhatsApp, and Telegram, where users share and amplify false narratives.
• Fake News Websites
  Some websites pose as legitimate news sources but are created to deceive readers with false stories that push specific agendas.
• AI-Generated Content
  The rise of AI allows for the creation of highly realistic but fake images, videos, and texts, making it harder to distinguish truth from falsehood.

Targeted Communities

• Communities of Color
  Minority communities are often the focus of disinformation, with tactics designed to exploit shared traumas, concerns, and cultural connections. Misinformation is tailored to specific demographics, often in multiple languages.

Emerging Trends in Disinformation

• AI-Generated Content
  AI tools are making it easier to create convincing but fake media, posing new challenges for detecting and countering disinformation.
• Prebunking Efforts
  Governments and organizations are becoming more proactive, working to debunk false narratives before they spread.
• Cross-Platform Coordination
  Disinformation is coordinated across different platforms, making it harder to detect and stop, as the false narratives hop from one space to another.

Countermeasures

• Government Agencies
  Federal entities are focused on monitoring foreign interference to safeguard elections.
• Social Media Content Moderation
  Platforms are increasingly using algorithms and human moderators to identify and remove disinformation.
• Fact-Checking and Public Education
  Non-profits and independent groups work to fact-check false claims and educate voters on how to critically assess the information they encounter.
• Media Literacy Initiatives
  Public awareness campaigns aim to teach people how to recognize and resist disinformation, helping voters make informed decisions.

Disinformation Definitions Dictionary

This disinformation definition dictionary covers (and uncovers) the terminology and techniques used by disinfo peddlers, hucksters, Zucksters, propagandists, foreign actors, FARA actors, and professional liars of all sorts — including confirmation bias, the bandwagon effect, and other psychological soft points they target, attack, and exploit. From trolling to active measures to “alternative facts,” we dig into the terminology that makes disinformation tick.

This resource will be added to over time as neologisms are coined to keep up with the shifting landscape of fakes, deep fakes, AI disinformation, and alternative timelines in our near and potentially far future.

To learn even more, be sure to check out the Disinformation Books List:

Disinformation Books