The spread of false and misleading information, whether intentional or not, is one of the most consequential issues in America and around the world. And this “information disorder” crisis exacerbates all other issues, from democracy to climate change, from health care to racial justice.
To explore this multipronged issue, the Aspen Institute brought together a group of experts from government, academia, philanthropy, and civil society. Following six months of collaboration and research, the 16-person Commission on Information Disorder detailed its findings and recommendations in an 80-page report released Monday.
The report aims to call attention to an urgent issue and provide guidelines for how decision-makers can take immediate action to reduce the impacts of mis- and disinformation.
Because information disorder affects so many other issues, the Aspen Institute sought to have its commission be as diverse and wide-ranging as possible. The commission was led by journalist Katie Couric, Color of Change President Rashad Robinson and Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Recognizing that the eradication of misinformation is an impossible task, the commission instead focused its report on three main priorities: increasing transparency and understanding, building trust, and reducing harms.
“Disinformation is a symptom to the disease of the complex structural inequalities that have plagued society,” Robinson said during a webinar presenting the report. “And it’s a tactic used to take advantage of things that are already broken and sometimes currently being broken in our society: racial bias, gender inequality, economic inequality, the decline in journalism and so much more.” FULL REPORT
