Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation: Social Diffusion and Misinformation Prevention

Information

One of the assumptions of information is the assumption that information is true. The criterion of truth makes it possible to distinguish between the concepts of information, misinformation, and disinformation. Despite the relatively long history of debating fact and lie, no universally accepted theory or definition of fact has been presented. In addition, Tabatabai (1990) argued that fact is the same as truth or right and is called a mental proposition that corresponds to reality; but an illusion, a lie, or a falsehood implies that mental proposition that does not correspond to reality. Truth means perception in accordance with reality. Any proposition that corresponds to reality is the truth. However, many thinkers do not consider truth to mean that perception corresponds to reality and offer other definitions of truth. Positivists, for example, believe that truth is the agreement of all minds at once on a proposition.

Truth is a feature of a statement. A statement or proposition can be true or false. When submitting a statement, asking if it is correct or incorrect will have the usual answer. It is correct if the statement describes the state of the world as it is or if it conforms to one of the universal methods. A strong assumption about information is that the information is correct. If this assumption is not true, the meanings associated with that information can be misleading, and incorrect information cannot inform perception or action.