Glossary: Malinformation
Launch library · evergreen read
Malinformation describes genuine, accurate information that is shared with the deliberate intent to cause harm, which sets it apart clearly from both misinformation and disinformation, where the underlying information itself is actually false. A private detail shared publicly specifically to embarrass someone is a fairly common example of this category.
This category is easy to overlook entirely because the usual verification question, is this true, does not really apply in the way it does everywhere else. The information can check out completely and still be genuinely harmful, which calls for a rather different kind of judgement than fact checking alone can ever provide.
Recognising malinformation shifts the relevant question from accuracy alone toward context and intent instead: why is this being shared, by whom, and what harm might reasonably follow, questions that a simple true or false check simply does not address, even when the underlying facts are entirely accurate.