Early and often: Can real-time intervention by trusted authorities help stop a tsunami of disinformation?

Abstract

A tsunami of disinformation is washing over the world, with social media helping it to spread quickly and widely. The purveyors of disinformation use it to press their agenda by adding untruths where previously there were none, fabricating stories, reporting them out of context, or doctoring images to promote their message. In the past, disinformation has been a prelude to and run concurrently with other attacks, including cyber and conventional warfare, and when officials reacted to disinformation, they successfully slowed its flow but did not entirely stop it, and may not have “won” cyber or conventional battles. Researchers say even multiple corrections don’t fully stop disinformation, and sowing skepticism by forewarning of a probable disinformation campaign is the most successful way of staunching the flow. Tools have been developed to help detect disinformation rapidly but officials often don’t have a plan to track, correct or refute it.