Everyone seems to agree that "fake news," or
disinformation, permeates the online environment. Researchers are
increasingly examining the Internet's false and embellished
data as a significant social phenomenon, which is reaching and
influencing millions of Internet users.
Two recent studies seek to define a path to information
reliability amid the increasing proliferation of false and
misleading information on the Internet, particularly in social
media.
A European Union study, "A Multi-Dimensional Approach to
Disinformation," issued in March 2018, recognizes
the problem of disinformation using modern technologies as complex
and unlikely to be solved though heavy-handed regulation.
Initially, the report acknowledges that disinformation problems are
"deeply intertwined with the development of digital
media." Various different actors, alone and in groups, have
made "manipulative uses" of the Internet and other
communications infrastructures "to produce, circulate
