New Orleans       Misinformation is everywhere around us now poisoning our society and politics, dividing people, and polarizing countries and conflicts.  We tend to think of misinformation as just political, but a special feature recently in Science magazine reminds us that this is a phenomenon that triggers scientific inquiry into its causes and effects.

Like misinformation itself, sadly, there seems little consensus among scientists on what it is, and when it occurs.  For example, “fake news” clearly makes the cut, but a 2020 paper finds that “only made up 0.15% of the daily media diet in the US.”  Of course, they are talking about deliberately “fabricated content,” not the constant clamor of all sides of an argument accusing their opponents of fake news.   A survey of experts pretty much agrees that lies, deepfakes, conspiracy theories, and pseudoscience all qualify as misinformation, but they are less sure about propaganda, rumors, clickbait headlines, hyperpartisan news, and satirical news.  And, of course these distinctions and differences are fraught by politics.  The right moves information more quickly in these areas and quickly targets the scientists and centers studying misinformation as biased, which complicates objectivity and any attempt to argue it’s all “just the facts, ma’am.”

A huge problem Science highlighted was that for all of the sound and fury, actual scientists have found it aggravatingly hard to measure the impact.  “Indeed, most research dodges the question.  A review of 759 misinformation studies published late last year found they mostly measured changes in self-reported attitudes and beliefs.  Less than 1% looked at how participants later behaved.”  It’s a disease without a clear death count.  Researchers cite the “pizzagate” scandal, where millions knew about the conspiracy, but only one person grabbed a semiautomatic weapon and rushed in gun blazing into the pizza parlor in DC to try and free these make believe abused children.

So much of misinformation is pushed by social media algorithms that the problem ignites in no time and at no cost and become an uncontrolled fire.  The social media companies own the data, which prevents researchers from accessing read numbers that might reveal the impact and provide hard numbers to underpin the theories.  The period of openness by Facebook and others to researchers seems to have closed now that they realize it impacts their image and marketing.  Recent announcements to curtail fact checking on social media at Twitter X and Facebook guarantees that the flames will rage with no efforts to put them out, as they hide behind claims of free speech.

This is not just a US problem that crops up during election seasons.  As we all know from the tragedies in Myanmar and other countries, this is a global problem.  State actors are heavily involved in trying to manipulate public opinion and impact elections within their self-interest in many countries, not just the good ol’ USA.

This effort in Science is a step in the right direction, but a close reading triggers more head scratching than it does “ah ha” moments, and nothing reads like we are close to a solution or containing the crises triggered by misinformation.