Welcome to Saturday Hashtag, a weekly place for broader context.
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In today’s digital social media world, distorted data spreads five times faster than facts. Why?
Because facts require resources and time to verify — while intentionally distorted data makes money and takes zero time to confirm.
This manipulation of information shapes public opinion and fosters false narratives, driven by both honest mistakes and intentional misrepresentation.
A major contributor to this problem is confirmation bias — our natural tendency to seek out information that reinforces our existing beliefs.
Even reputable sources can be inaccurate at times, but agenda-driven platforms exploit our biases by selectively presenting data to further their own interests. Recognizing these biases is essential to preventing the spread of misinformation and protecting the integrity of public discourse.
The real world is inherently complex, and establishing facts is a laborious process. And, as mentioned above, the primary issue is that verifying facts is both costly and time-consuming, whereas propaganda thrives on the quick cheap consumption of distorted data and is highly profitable, as it serves to enrich platforms and their content creators.
Sensationalized narratives — detached from truth — can be rapidly created and spread at minimal cost.
This dynamic compels media platforms and content creators to prioritize attention-grabbing, agenda-driven content.
The Rent Crisis: A Misleading Graph
A viral TikTok video shared a misleading animated graph comparing rent and income, showing a dramatic divergence since the 1990s. The graph was inaccurate because it adjusted income for inflation — but not for rent, exaggerating the gap.
The error originated from a legitimate source, DataIsBeautiful, and was later corrected with a text explanation in the graph post. However, the sensational nature of the flawed graph caused the uncorrected version to go viral — with the correction being cropped out.
The video inflated the issue, making it seem 2-3 times worse than reality.
Jane Goodall’s Population Perspective: A Dangerous Manipulation
A tweet falsely attributed a claim to Jane Goodall speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, suggesting she wanted to reduce the world’s population to 500 million.
In reality, Goodall never said this. She merely proposed that addressing overpopulation could help solve global issues. The video was edited to make it seem like she directly endorsed this drastic reduction. The fabricated claim spread quickly, distorting her message and fueling harmful conspiracy theories.
US Tax Burden: Misleading Claims
On The Daily Show (April 8, 2020), John Stewart ironically claimed that Americans face heavy taxes, referencing an 8 percent average rate. The video of the study data shown applied only to a very specific group — one-earner married couples with two children — and only accounted for federal income taxes. It excluded other taxes, like sales and property taxes, and was skewed by pandemic relief, which lowered effective rates.
The actual tax burden in that year was closer to 25 percent, making Stewart’s claim misleading.
Climate Change and Natural Disasters: Misinterpreting Data
A graph from NOAA and Scientific American showing rising disaster costs was widely interpreted on social media as the sole proof of climate change. However, the study never claimed that the increase was solely due to climate change.
It also highlighted other contributing factors, such as population growth, infrastructure expansion, increased building, and rising construction costs, all of which are playing a role in what is projected to be a $38 trillion cost by 2049. And the article emphasized the importance of improved disaster preparedness.
Truth Is Tedious and Costly
These examples reveal how easily mistakes and misinformation spread even from trusted sources, especially when cherry picked and amplified by social media algorithms that target our biases.
In the digital age, it’s essential to stay vigilant, use digital tools to verify information, and avoid sharing distorted narratives — even when they seem credible. Critical thinking and digital media literacy are essential in combating data distortion.
Understanding how distorted data exploits our biases, and prioritizing truth over convenience are key steps in protecting the integrity of public discourse and safeguarding democracy.
Learn the Truth About Mal-Dis-Mis Information
The author writes, “In today’s digital landscape, distinguishing truth from fiction is increasingly challenging, as misinformation can spread faster than verified facts. The video below delves into various forms of misleading information — malinformation, disinformation, and misinformation — each with its own intent and impact. This serves as a vital reminder to critically evaluate the news and content we encounter and share daily.”
Deepfakes Proved a Different Threat Than Expected. Here’s How To Defend Against Them
From the World Economic Forum: “What is the biggest threat from deepfakes? If you had asked people a year ago, many would have said their ability to disrupt global elections and create a misinformation and disinformation apocalypse, but that’s not what happened. During election cycles in 2024, we saw memes, propaganda and poor quality ‘AI slop’ —none of which turned the tide in any candidate’s favor. But deepfakes are still with us, and their ineffectiveness in affecting elections doesn’t mean they are harmless.”
Davos 2025: Misinformation and Disinformation Are Most Pressing Risks, Says World Economic Forum
The author writes, “Misinformation and disinformation pose the greatest risk to countries, businesses and individuals over the next two years. The rise of fake news, the decline of fact checking on social media and the growth of deep fakes generated by artificial intelligence (AI) threaten to erode trust and deepen divisions between countries, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said.”
How Misinformation on Social Media Has Changed News
The author writes, “Social media’s evolution as a distributor of news has had serious consequences for what counts as journalism and what gets conflated with the truth.”
The Science of Disinformation: Cognitive Vulnerabilities and Digital Manipulation
From Modern Diplomacy: “In today’s fast-paced digital world, disinformation has become a major challenge. From political interference to health crises, false information affects how people think, act, and even how the political system functions. A clear example of this is the COVID-19 pandemic, where rumors about vaccines and the virus spread rapidly on social media, fueling vaccine hesitancy and eroding trust in science. On top of that, some governments used these divides to manipulate public opinion and create chaos. These examples show how disinformation, when used deliberately, can serve political and ideological agendas.”
Fake News Spreads Further on X If the Story Is About the Future
From Trinity College Dublin: “The more a fake news story talks about the future, the more likely it is to be spread on X (formerly Twitter), research from Trinity Business School has found — and this is linked to human evolution.”
The Cost of Fake News in the Context of Meta’s Shift Away From Fact-Checking
The author writes, “Increasingly, we have seen how quickly fake news can upend financial markets and corporate reputations. In 2023, for example, a fabricated tweet showing a fake explosion near the Pentagon rattled the U.S. stock market, causing a brief but impactful downturn. Then there was the notorious case of Eli Lilly’s fake tweet promising free insulin in November 2022. That cost the pharmaceutical multinational $22 billion in the stock market. This isn’t a new phenomenon — as far back as 2013, a fake report of explosions at the White House caused the S&P 500 to lose $130 billion in market capitalization within minutes.”
World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development
From UNESCO: “The risk of encountering disinformation across digital and legacy media is ever more common. Through this database, Statista provides key information on press freedom and news consumption, trust in media and disinformation shared in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also contains data on the public’s perceptions about these issues.”
