What is Misinformation?

We live in a matrix of information that we can think of as an information environment. This information environment includes linguistic information (like a sentence on a page) and visual information (like a picture on your phone). And just like our physical environment, the information environment can be clean or polluted. A clean information environment improves our grasp of reality. A polluted environment impedes it. Prominent kinds of linguistic pollution include misleading information, misinformation, and disinformation. Prominent kinds of visual pollution include faked photos, memes, and deepfakes. All of these things count as information pollutants or “bad news.” They are bad news because they don't represent the world as it really is, and the more polluted our information environment, the harder it is for us to believe the truth about ourselves and the world we find ourselves in.