Misinformation is information that is factually incorrect, but not created with the intention of causing any harm,

and probably not spread with the intention of misinforming anyone else.

Disinformation is information that is factually incorrect and which is created with the intention

of increasing misunderstanding, causing harm, and or sowing discord.

Malinformation is information that is based on reality, and that will often be nearly accurate,

but with a slant that is intended to sway people's thoughts, behaviors, and in many cases

the way that they treat each other, their institutions, their spending habits, and their vote.

All three types of false information dissemination are potentially harmful, but not in the same way,

and the source of such information is often quite different, with different intentions behind doing that sharing.

Misinformation spread is generally the result of well-meaning people sharing things

that they think, assume, or hope is true, but which is not. And that can mean everything from

sharing a news article from several years back, thinking that it's a recent news article, and just not

thinking to check the date on the byline, to sharing a tweet or Facebook post about a protest that has an image from an entirely different protest attached to it.

All of us, at some point, have almost certainly accidentally spread misinformation.

It's the nature of our social network-enabled online world to be exposed to a constant deluge of data, and a huge quantity of that data

will be incorrect in its entirety or in its details. Our spreading of misinformation is usually

the consequence of nothing more malicious than us failing to be experts on absolutely everything

there is to know. Though even experts will sometimes unwittingly spread misinformation

about their own fields. So it's a fair bet that not even universal expertise would be a sufficient

shield to avoid playing a role in the misinformation ecosystem. Disinformation spread

is the consequence of conscious thought, someone deciding to make

something up in its entirety or just in part, in order to change someone's mind about a particular

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