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ABSTRACT
Prototypical instances of disinformation include deceptive advertising (in business and in politics), government propaganda, doctored photographs, forged documents, fake maps, internet frauds, fake websites, and manipulated Wikipedia entries. Disinformation can cause significant harm if people are misled by it. In order to address this critical threat to information quality, we first need to understand exactly what disinformation is. This paper surveys the various analyses of this concept that have been proposed by information scientists and philosophers (most notably, Luciano Floridi). It argues that these analyses are either too broad (that is, that they include things that are not disinformation), or too narrow (they exclude things that are disinformation), or both. Indeed, several of these analyses exclude important forms of disinformation, such as true disinformation, visual disinformation, side-effect disinformation, and adaptive disinformation. After considering the shortcomings of these analyses, the paper argues that disinformation is misleading information that has the function of misleading. Finally, in addition to responding to Floridi's claim that such a precise analysis of disinformation is not necessary, it briefly discusses how this analysis can help us develop techniques for detecting disinformation and policies for deterring its spread.
Introduction
According to Luciano Floridi (2011), philosophy of information is primarily concerned with "how information should be adequately created, processed, managed, and used" (p. 15). But as he (1996) notes, we also need to study what happens when "the process of information is defective" (p. 509). Inaccurate and misleading information can be extremely dangerous. When people are misled about important topics, such as investment opportunities, medical treatments, or political candidates, it can cause serious emotional, financial, and even physical harm. Libraries and other information ser vices are at the forefront of efforts to ensure that people have access to quality information instead.
Whether it results from an honest mistake, negligence, unconscious bias, or (as in the case of disinformation) intentional deception, inaccurate information (or misinformation) can mislead people.1 But in the same way that acts of terrorism tend to be more troubling than natural disasters, disinformation is a particularly problematic form of misinformation because it is no accident that people are misled. Unlike an honest mistake, disinformation comes from someone who is actively engaged in an attempt to mislead (Fetzer, 2004; Piper, 2002,...