Blog Posts About: disinformation

We now live in a world with increasing disinformation and misinformation. Nations, organizations, and individuals are using the media to spread false information that's designed to cause confusion and mistrust. While it's difficult to stop them, we can become more informed and help one another understand the phenomenon, how to detect it, and avoid it.

That's why we made a video that explains disinformation in about three minutes. The video is a fictional story of how one town uses disinformation to influence the other town. It provides a clear example that applies to today's environment.

Disinformation Explained by Common Craft

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The Clemson University Media Forensics Hub created a helpful tool for learning how to spot an internet troll. The tool is like a quiz, where you are asked to review real-world social media profiles and answer the question: is this a troll account? Each selection is followed by an analysis of the profile's content and what clues are present. In many cases, the troll accounts are also identified by their origin and likely goal.

I took the quiz and didn't do that well. It was a wake-up call that we all should be aware of social media accounts that have the goal of influencing our perceptions by pushing misinformation and lies. Many of the troll accounts are run from foreign countries and especially Russia. 

If you're looking for ways to educate yourself and others about the Internet, I recommend using this resource.

Take the Quiz Here

Disinformation is growing. By learning what it is, how to recognize it, and how to prevent it from spreading, we can stop disinformation from doing harm.

This video, 113th title, is now available in the Common Craft video library.

Watch it in full for a limited time.

What it Teaches:

This video illustrates the danger of disinformation, with a story of one community's use of a disinformation campaign to cause a rival community to vote against their own interests. It teaches:

• Why disinformation can work as a strategy
• Why disinformation is destructive and harmful to society
• How to recognize disinformation
• How to prevent disinformation from spreading

Watch the Video

Note: Each Common Craft video comes with a lesson plan that makes teaching easier. Curious? Download the lesson plan for the video above (PDF).