Presenting credible but false data is the basis of misinformation
Disinformation is the act and result of misinforming . This verb (disinform), meanwhile, refers to omitting information or providing it in an insufficient or intentionally manipulated manner .
There are two main meanings of the concept. On the one hand, disinformation is associated with the practice that aims to deceive the population through fake news and false data . On the other hand, the notion can be directly linked to the lack of information , which is why it is closely related to ignorance .
Manipulation of the truth
In the first case, disinformation is synonymous with information manipulation . The goal is for people not to find out something or to believe that a lie is true . The media and social networks play a very important role in this process.
Suppose that a television channel is opposed to a government . In his journalistic and news programs (also known as newscasts or newscasts) he is responsible for disseminating all types of complaints against officials and even rumors that affect the image of the authorities, but he never announces when the complaints are dismissed by Justice or when the rulers are acquitted . Thus, through misinformation, it tendentiously affects public opinion.
Lack of information
Let's now see what happens to a young woman who grew up in a remote area, without access to school . This woman believes that if she drinks three glasses of water after having intimate relations, she eliminates the chances of getting pregnant. Misinformation, originating from the lack of sexual education , means that an unwanted pregnancy can occur since one does not know the authentic contraceptive methods.
Note that, unlike the manipulation of the truth, in this case the problem is not always caused by a third party, although it can also occur as a consequence of the blocking of information. Another nuance to take into account is that for this type of misinformation to exist, it is absolutely necessary that the missing data have been discovered by some human being: the young woman in the example is a victim of misinformation because at least one person knew that her contraceptive method did not work. It was effective.
Disinformation as a tool
Although we cannot know who was the first human being to manipulate the truth, we do know the history of the special disinformation office that was created in the Soviet Union in 1923. Behind its founding was Józef Unszlicht , the vice president of the Soviet Union. Unified State Political Directorate (also known by its acronym OGPU or GPU ), of which the KGB was the successor.
Stalin is believed to have coined the term with a "French" twist.
This Political Directorate was a pioneer in the use of disinformation as part of its intelligence strategy. Their goal was to “inject” misleading data into the population that would be easy to believe. Since then, the Soviet political war again used this tactic in its list of active measures , which also included manipulation of the press and falsification. According to the statements of a former member of the Romanian secret police, Ion Mihai Pacepa , the word was coined by Joseph Stalin and used in both World War II and the Cold War.
Another interesting fact about the emergence of this term in the Soviet Union is that Stalin gave it a French-looking name so that other countries would believe that it was a foreign concept. According to different historical and linguistic sources, the word disinformation began to become international in the 1950s, and little by little this tactic was used by other intelligence agencies, such as the United States CIA and the Secret Intelligence Service . from the United Kingdom.