📖 Content moderation glossary
What is disinformation?
In short
Disinformation is false or misleading information that is created or shared deliberately to deceive, gain money or influence, whereas misinformation is false information shared without the intention to mislead.
Not all false content is illegal, and moderators are rarely in a position to establish the truth on every topic. For most organisations, the question is not 'is this true?' but 'does this break our rules?': for example, impersonating an official source, spreading fake health advice that endangers people, or coordinated campaigns.
Example: during a flood, comments under a city's Facebook post claim that the drinking water is poisoned and link to a fake official notice. The public body needs to hide the fake notice fast and publish a clear correction.
Heavy-handed removal of opinions labelled as disinformation can backfire and fuel distrust. A clear policy, a focus on behaviour (fake accounts, coordination, impersonation) and human review of sensitive cases work better. Very large online platforms also have specific risk assessment duties under the Digital Services Act.