Disinformation
- For the company, see Disinfo
Disinformation, in the context of espionage, military intelligence, and propaganda, is the spreading of deliberately false information to mislead an enemy as to one's position or course of action. It also includes the distortion of true information in such a way as to render it useless.
Disinformation techniques may also be found in commerce and government, used by one group to try to undermine the position of a competitor.
Unlike propaganda or the Big Lie technique designed to engage emotional support, disinformation is designed to manipulate the audience at the rational level by either discrediting conflicting information or supporting false conclusions. A third technique of concealing facts, or censorship is also used if the group can effect such control. When channels of information cannot be completely closed, they can be rendered useless by filling them with disinformation, effectively lowering their signal-to-noise ratio.
The Cold War made disinformation a recognized military and political tactic, though disinformation is generally more subtle and designed to remain unconscious to the target audience.
See also
- Miss Information
- Yossarian Universal News Service
- Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
- information warfare
- SourceWatch (formerly Disinfopedia)
- Flack Attack