This post was written for and originally published by the Institute of Network Cultures as part of the Dispatches from Ukraine: Tactical Media Reflections and Responses publication. It also benefited from copy editing by Chloë Arkenbout, and proofreading by Laurence Scherz.
Tackling disinformation and misinformation is a problem that is important, timely, hard… and, in no way new. Throughout history, different forms of propaganda, manipulation, and biased reporting have been present and deployed — consciously or not; maliciously or not — to steer political discourse and to goad public outrage. The issue has admittedly become more urgent lately and we do need to do something about it. I believe, however, that so far we’ve been focusing on the wrong parts of it.