disinformation
Definition
Disinformation refers to misleading, inaccurate, or entirely false information spread intentionally to sway public opinion, distinguishing it from misinformation, which describes information disorders where intent is not detectable. In the context of the Russian war against Ukraine, pro-Kremlin disinformation operates through governmental and public media channels to deny military operations, attribute responsibility for the conflict to Western nations, and undermine international solidarity with Ukraine. Susceptibility to such disinformation is shaped by social identity and media consumption patterns: Germans with a Russian migration background who consumed Russian media showed reduced ability to recognize disinformation and were less likely to hold Russia responsible for the war. Research examining this population also demonstrates that inoculation, a psychological intervention that preemptively warns recipients about persuasive attempts, can improve disinformation recognition and reduce perceived credibility of false narratives. More broadly, the study of disinformation susceptibility sits within a wider program of intervention research that includes crowdsourcing fact-checking and emotion-fallacy inoculation as strategies for building population-level resilience.
Sources: Ziemer et al. (2024), Kunst (2024)
Related Terms
- misinformation (2 shared articles)
- inoculation (1 shared article)
- social identity (1 shared article)
- media exposure (1 shared article)
- interventions (1 shared article)
- fake news (1 shared article)
- conspiracy theories (1 shared article)
- resilience (1 shared article)
Applications
Disinformation and Inoculation
Inoculation has been shown to improve participants' ability to recognize pro-Kremlin disinformation and perceive it as less credible, while also heightening attributions of responsibility to Russia and strengthening solidarity with Ukraine. Inoculation effects on disinformation susceptibility were not significantly impaired by Russian identity, meaning the intervention proved equally effective for individuals with strong identity-based vulnerabilities as for the general population. This finding positions inoculation as a scalable protective tool even when identity-motivated reasoning might otherwise be expected to limit intervention effectiveness.
Sources: Ziemer et al. (2024), Kunst (2024)
Disinformation and Social Identity
Having a Russian identity and consuming Russian media were positively correlated with heightened susceptibility to pro-Russian disinformation, including reduced recognition accuracy and lower likelihood of attributing responsibility for the war to Russia. Germans with a Russian migration background represent a population in which dual identity pressures and media distrust compound this vulnerability.
Sources: Ziemer et al. (2024)
Disinformation and Media Exposure
Higher consumption of Russian media predicted reduced ability to recognize disinformation and a lower likelihood of holding Russia responsible for the war in Ukraine, with exposure functioning as a significant predictor of susceptibility independent of identity. Russia has maintained this media influence through governmental and public channels, and continues to reach foreign audiences via social media and alternative outlets following the banning of RT and Sputnik in the EU. The persistence of these channels means that media diet remains a significant variable when assessing individual vulnerability to coordinated disinformation campaigns.
Sources: Ziemer et al. (2024)
