Is it just about the facts? The case for a critical, pro-democracy approach to information integrity

How do misinformation and disinformation pollute the information environment and undermine democracy? Researchers have investigated the prevalence of online misinformation and its impact. Despite widespread concerns over online misinformation, evidence suggests that online misinformation has limited reach among the U.S. public, and that social media do not have a causal impact on misperceptions. While concerns over its prevalence and impact might be overblown, we are far from understanding the harms caused by mis- and disinformation to the health of our media environment, our multi-cultural society, and democracy. Drawing upon the critical disinformation framework and democratic theories, I argue that misinformation researchers should ground empirical work in normative theories of media and democracy and examine the harms of misinformation based on democratic principles. These insights have important implications for media practitioners and policy- and lawmakers as we work together to safeguard the information environment and increase the resilience of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural democracy.