Core threat: Disinformation

The factsheet will help you know more about: 

  • What is disinformation?
  • Why not call it ‘fake news’?
  • How does disinformation work?
  • Example of disinformation
  • When are you likely to see/read/hear disinformation?
  • Who is creating disinformation and why?
  • What is the impact?
  • What can I do?

What is disinformation?

  • Disinformation is when someone deliberately creates and spreads false information
  • The intent is to deceive people and manipulate them into believing what they are saying is true

Why not call it ‘fake news’?

  • ‘Fake news’ is a word politicians like to use against journalists who ask difficult questions.
  • ‘Fake news’ doesn't sufficiently describe the variety of falsehoods journalists are likely to come across. Download a factsheet listing the types of misinformation here.
  • Knowing if you are dealing with either disinformation, misinformation or malinformation can help you address it more effectively
Write your awesome label here.

How does disinformation work?

Spotting disinformation can be difficult. Experts at the University of Cambridge in the UK have come up with an acronym: DEPICT, to help you identify six common tactics that disinformers use. Click on the hotspots to find out what each letter represents.

Example of disinformation

Swipe the screen which shows two images of 2026 presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu known as Bobi Wine and his wife Barbie. They look identical apart from the colour of their clothing. Which one do you think is real?
The image on the left is real. The photo of them wearing yellow clothing has been digitally altered. Yellow is the main colour of the ruling National Resistance Movement Party (NRM) but Bobi Wine leads the National Unity Platform (NUP) whose colours are red, white and navy blue. The altered image falsely implied he and his wife had joined the NRM. Bobi Wine posted the real image on his Facebook page on 24 September 2025. The false one appeared elsewhere online a day later.
  • Be curious and ask questions
Watch a short video on how this disinformation was exposed. Learn more about how to expose disinformation in the Core Skills section.
Write your awesome label here.

When are you likely to see/read/hear disinformation?

  • Any event that is making headlines or people are talking about is likely to be targeted with disinformation e.g., a natural disaster, a national election, a large protest, a health scare, a conflict, a climate change conference.
  • In Uganda dis and misinformation is largely being spread across social media platforms and WhatsAppas well as radio. The UN Global Pulse campaign during the Covid pandemic used automatic speech recognition technology to detect rumours and misinformation on some local radio stations. 

Who is creating disinformation and why?

We don’t always know who is responsible, but the primary offenders appear to be:
  • Foreign governments using both bots and human troll farms* to generate disinformation to provoke societal unrest to their own advantage
  • Politicians and their supporters creating disinformation to damage their opponents
  • Scammers creating disinformation to trick people into sending them money or their personal information
  • Pranksters purely out to create mischief and watch their work go ‘viral’

What is the impact?

The creation and dissemination of disinformation is helping to undermine democratic elections, promote societal polarisation and increase conflict. Ultimately, it is affecting public trust in the people whose job it is to provide them with information – journalists. It’s why understanding how disinformation works is so important to knowing how to tackle it effectively and build trust with audiences.

What can I do?

Creating a healthy information ecosystem where audiences trust professional journalists depends on all of us playing a part. That includes journalism students.

Share the common disinformation tactics with family, friends and wider society giving them the tools they need to be able to critically evaluate information that helps rather than harms them.
When you read/hear/see something BEFORE you share it with anyone else or online take these three steps:

Pause 

and be cautious. Do not share any claims straight away

Question 

 if it might be a lie

Fact check

any claim before you share it
There is further advice, guidance and examples of fact-checking processes to help you in the tabs: Essential Questions, Core Skills and Editorial Targets *a ‘troll farm’ or troll factory is an organised group of people (or bots) creating and posting coordinated messages on social media to influence and polarise public opinion, spread propaganda and harm democratic processes.

Download the Disinformation tipsheet and checklist here.