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Misinformation refers to false or misleading information that is spread unintentionally. We all succumb to this as there are massive amounts of false information online and quick reactions are expected on social media. This means that we share false information out of our ignorance or carelessness, and no one can avoid making mistakes.

Disinformation, on the other hand, is deliberate incorrect or misleading information that intentionally aims at influencing, manipulating or misleading people or creating fake information. Disinformation aims at causing damage. False information comes in many shapes and sizes:

Fake news

Definition: Fake news is content that resembles journalism but with the intent of misleading the reader. Fake news can also contain facts, but the key content is pure fabrication. Usually money or a political motive is found behind fake news. Mistakes made by media or statements that were later proved to be false are not fake news – and neither is news that does not please you or is not in line with your worldview or opinions.

Example: In 2016, in the Macedonian town of Veles, local teenagers fabricated fake news about the US Presidential elections and earned hefty sums of money. They had copied the ingredients of their fake news from the Internet or made them up. They got money from adverts on their websites. The sites set up by the youngsters were typical clickbait sites that in this case also had long-reaching political impacts. The fake news created by the youth of Veles supported Donald Trump and slandered Hillary Clinton, which has led the US to discuss if fake news websites turned the tables in the elections.

How to identify: Investigate who has published the news article, when it has been published and what is the exact address of the website. Check the contact details and make sure if the names and addresses are real. Inspect the language of the article: does it contain typos, humour or insults? What are the sources on which the article is based? Are there any references to sources? Does the source exist? Has someone been interviewed, and can you find the same quote from any other source? Put your own attitudes and prejudice under the spotlight: we are more likely to believe news that supports our own understanding of the world.

“There is a lot of information that is in conflict with our own values and preferences. It takes courage to hear and understand those things.”
Tero Koskinen
Head of Preparedness, Media Pool

“If you get the feeling that ‘this can’t be real’ about social media content, it usually means that there is false information or an incorrect interpretation behind it.”
Emmi Nuorgam
author & journalist

“You should pay attention to checking out what kind of media it is, do they have information about the editorial staff, what is their other news like, is the text editorial or not, are writers’ own opinions or ideologies highlighted, does the text use colloquialisms or peculiar expressions. That way, it’s pretty easy to discover that this is an attempt to influence.”
Mikko Toiviainen
social media influencer, Kalenterikarju

Trolling

Definition: Trolling is bullying and disruptive behaviour online. It can include posing stupid questions, participating in a discussion with only links, publishing and sharing false information or manipulated images. It can also be name-calling, threatening or provoking. Trolls want to get reactions and everyone’s attention. The motive for trolling may be a political agenda, but most often the only reason behind it is pure malice or entertainment.

Example: In spring 2019, Kalenterikarju Mikko Toiviainen published a video on his YouTube channel with tips for helping to mitigate climate change. Soon, the video was flooded with comments from climate change deniers who spread their own agenda and conspiracy theories in the comments section.

“Many climate change deniers came – probably from some forum – to the ‘10 actions for the climate’ video to discuss the topic and spread their own agenda. Soon, all kinds of conspiracy theories started spreading there. Now, I have blocked some words from the video, so if those words are used, the comments will not be shown.”
Mikko Toiviainen
social media influencer, Kalenterikarju

How to identify: Review the user’s social media account and evaluate if it is real or not. Does the name sound fake? Can you find the profile picture from elsewhere online using Google’s reverse image search? When was the profile created? Has the account only posted a few posts and what are they about? Are there other suspicious profiles on their friends list?

Propaganda

Definition: Propaganda aims at affecting the general opinion and people’s attitudes, emotions and behaviour. The spreader of propaganda may have several motivations, such as a political ideology or some other movement or doctrine. Propaganda has a bad ring to it because, in the worst-case scenario, it can be used to distort reality or spin negative actions in a positive light or positive actions in a negative light. Propaganda may also be based on completely factual information when the aim is to influence people with a certain pre-selected perspective, for instance. Propaganda is among the ways societal discussion is had in a democratic society.

Example: In 2019, dramatic images of the massive forest fires in the Amazon started circulating on social media. A large share of the images were not real live news footage of the situation but either old photos from decades ago or photos from some place completely other than the Amazon. Even though the intention is good, the bottom line is that someone is trying to influence people with false information.

How to identify: It can be difficult to tell propaganda apart from neutral information. Distinctive features may include overgeneralisation, incorrectly connecting similar things, repeating the same reasoning or statements, misleading limiting of options or attacks against a person or a group of people. On social media, robots and trolls are the usual sources of propaganda.

Pseudoscience

Definition: Pseudoscience looks like scientific information but it does not meet the criteria of science. It may be difficult to identify pseudoscience because it aims at convincing people with long lists of references and by highlighting scientific terms and academic titles. Emphasising user experiences over factual research data is typical of pseudoscience. Pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo appears in the marketing of health products and arguments of climate change deniers, in particular.

Example: In August 2019, health products, namely health supplements, were in the spotlight when the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat published an article that discussed critically the incorrect and misleading health statements expressed by retailers on social media. Health supplements are classified as foodstuffs, about which only health statements approved by the European Food Safety Authority can be expressed. For the social media marketing of these products, it is problematic that retailers say health statements that they have read or heard somewhere or even made up themselves without checking the information from other sources or ensuring what kinds of claims can be made of nutritional supplements.

“Every influencer is responsible for the information they share on their channels. If necessary, information from a commercial partner must be checked from another source.”
Emmi Nuorgam
author & journalist

How to identify: It may be difficult for a layperson to identify a reliable scientific research from pseudoscience but you can try to evaluate how reliable the information is by investigating the publication. Who has published the information? Is it a university or a company or communications agency that markets a certain product? Does the publisher of the information have interests that could affect the published information? What is the platform on which the information has been published? Does the article mention sources, do they exist and can they be found online? Are the results or effects based primarily on user experiences? If yes, be critical. Does the article reveal something big and groundbreaking? If yes, be critical. If you cannot be sure that the information is reliable, don’t share it.

Commercial content

Definition: Adverts and editorial content are starting to resemble one another more and more. Companies have noticed that consumers are fed up with the ever-increasing flow of ads. Therefore, they have started to produce advertisements that blend in with the rest of the mediascape and do not resemble the traditional, one-way advertising. They are called native advertising, content marketing and commercial collaborations.

Native advertising refers to paid advertisement content that looks like an editorial article.

Content marketing, on the other hand, is customer communications produced by companies and it closely resembles journalism. For instance, K Group’s Pirkka magazine and Veikkaus’ Inhimillisiä uutisia ("Human News") are content marketing.

Commercial collaboration is an established term for commercial content produced by an influencer and ordered by a company that is advertising something.

Commercial content is not disinformation in the sense that their objective would be to deliberately cause damage or mislead people but their goal is to influence people – commercially. Companies may also filter or limit information in a way that benefits them or harms their competition. If an ad is too much like journalism, the commercial agenda of the content is blurred.

Example: In 2016, a food industry company invited a group of bloggers to get to know their production facilities and paid them a fee for the content collaboration. The bloggers wrote about the visit in a positive tone: they transmitted information from the customer company regarding chicken production and reported what they had seen on the chicken farm and abattoir. The campaign raised a lot of discussion, and it was widely commented on both social and traditional media. Blogger and journalist Emmi Nuorgam participated in the campaign and received a lot of criticism about her post resembling journalism too much. The audience felt that it was not stated clearly enough that the post was an ad. All campaign posts were appropriately communicated as commercial collaborations but still the audience struggled to tell the difference between journalistic and commercial content and the blogger’s own experiences and facts.

“On social media, it’s hard to know what is an ad and what isn’t. If there is an ad on print media with the company’s logo on it, everyone knows it’s an ad.”
Konsta Linkola
photographer & influencer

How to identify: Surreptitious advertising is forbidden in Finland, which means that commercial content must always be communicated so that it clearly stands out from editorial content. “Commercial collaboration” is an established way of marking in native advertising as well as in influencer marketing. On TV shows, films and digital games, product placement is marked with a euro symbol at the start of the show. Content marketing doesn’t have to be separately communicated because it is the company’s own communications. But in this case, you should pay attention to the producer of the content and the publishing platform.

“We must keep in mind that marketing, advertising or lobbying is not forbidden. It’s separate from spreading disinformation. There must be room for different opinions, supervision of interests and selfish actions in media, online and society in general. It is part of free speech. But if you lie and damage another person or frame your lies as the truth, it cannot be accepted.”
Tero Koskinen
Head of Preparedness, Media Pool

“No influencer lies to their followers on purpose but often you just don’t understand the commercial interest that is behind a commercial message. It sounds groovy and you just jump aboard the story and become their loudspeaker.”
Konsta Linkola
photographer & influencer

In the past decade, the amount of information has skyrocketed. Nowadays, anyone can publish anything, and on social media, content spreads at an unprecedented speed. In this kind of a media environment, we all struggle with estimating if a piece of information we encounter on social media is reliable or not.

“All information should be judged with a critical attitude. Also information spread in traditional media because they, too, make mistakes.”
Tero Koskinen
Head of Preparedness, Media Pool

“The problem is that when massive amounts of content flood in at any given minute, you never really think that there might be something here that is not accurate. Especially if the information comes from a reliable influencer who you have followed for long and with whom you have a certain kind of a relationship that’s friendly in a way.”
Mikko Toiviainen
influencer, Kalenterikarju

“The Internet brought us a channel where we can make our voice heard and influence things that affect all of us. For democracy, it’s great, but it also has its downsides. Information that has the potential to reach vast audiences has not been checked or fixed to correspond to facts. We have to be able to identify where the line between fact and fiction is drawn. What is belief, what is information, what is an argument and what is an anecdote?”
Perttu Pölönen
inventor, futurist & composer, in his book Tulevaisuuden lukujärjestys

Primarily, you should have a critical attitude towards all information.

How can you learn to tell facts apart from nonsense? What is healthy media criticism like? And can you learn media literacy?

Yes, it’s possible to learn media literacy as well as definitely recommended. The more media content you consume and the more of a critical attitude you have towards it, the better you learn to separate reliable content from unreliable.

“Healthy media criticism is about questioning and evaluating media content. Unfortunately, there are no nifty, clear tricks you can use and be sure if the content is reliable or not. It takes a certain general critical attitude towards content and sufficient knowledge of how media works, the media economy and journalistic work.”
Sonja Hernesniemi
CEO of the Finnish Society on Media Education

“If I should give a rule of thumb, I would say something as simple as: ‘if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not true’. Or if the explanation is too simple, it probably isn’t true all the way.”
Sonja Hernesniemi
CEO of the Finnish Society on Media Education

“The development of media literacy is a long process that should start at child welfare clinics. We should practice critical thinking and learn to ask questions such as who produced this and why, what are the values this transmits or if something has been left out.”
Sonja Hernesniemi
CEO of the Finnish Society on Media Education

Three steps towards media criticism

1. Be aware of your own preconceptions. People are more likely to adopt information that supports their own preconceptions and worldview.

2. Inspect content with a critical attitude. Who published the content and where? Why has it been published? What is the purpose it serves? Does the content refer to sources and can they be found online? Google if you can find the statement from some other source.

3. Do not share content if you cannot find confirmation for the statements made or otherwise cannot reliably assess if it is true or not. If you know the content is incorrect and you would like to show that you disapprove of the publisher, do not share it. If you share false information, you promote to the spreading of false information even if your intention is the opposite.

“One important tip is that if you come across content on social media that you know not to be true but it is so appalling that you want to complain about it, NEVER SHARE IT! This is because the publisher of disinformation doesn’t care why the content was shared, only that the content spreads. By sharing content you know is a lie, you spread disinformation and serve its publisher even if your intention is completely opposite.”
Janne Matikainen
University of Helsinki

Reliable sources of information

Sources that are usually considered reliable include authorities, research institutions, expert organisations, news agencies, independent media, textbooks and encyclopedias.

Assess if the source is a commercial operator or if it has commercial links to the topic at hand.

Assess if the source is an ideological operator and what its opinion of the topic at hand is.

Finnish media outlets: As members of the Council for Mass Media, the majority of Finnish media is committed to complying with ethical journalism. These include inter alia Helsingin Sanomat, Yle and MTV3. You can find all the media outlets in the Council’s member organisations from here (in Finnish): www.jsn.fi/blog/mitka-mediat-kuuluvat-jsnn-saantelyn-piiriin/.

Finnish authorities: By default, Finnish authorities are reliable sources because they are bound by legislation and have responsibility for the legality of their actions. Documents by authorities are primarily public information, and authorities have an obligation stated in the law to guide citizens and respond to queries. Public Service Info will guide you to the correct public service: www.kansalaisneuvonta.fi/en-US

“Usually, reliable information is created in places that have long traditions of ensuring the reliability and credibility of information. For instance, different authorities who are legally responsible. If the information is based on data from authorities, it can usually be trusted more than some other source. And if a reliable medium publishes a piece of information, it can usually be trusted.”
Tero Koskinen
Head of Preparedness, Media Pool

Science institutes and research organisations: Universities and other public research organisations produce information that meets the criteria of science. This means that it is objective, peer-reviewed and can be replicated. However, much more than just scientific information is produced and published under the name of research and studies. For instance, commercial and ideological operators order different kinds of studies and reports. That is why you should pay attention to the publisher of the information. It may be difficult for a layperson to differentiate a reliable scientific study from commercial “studies” and pseudoscience. Therefore, you should always be extra careful with research sources.

A small guide to fact checking

When you produce content for your own channels

1. State clearly what is your opinion and what is a fact.

2. If you claim something, check that it is true.

3. Also check any claims from your commercial partner from another source.

4. Use reliable sources, e.g. Finnish media, authorities and research institutes.

5. Only use genuine photographs that ar relevant to the context.

6. Tell your followers the source of the claim.

7. If you unintentionally publish false information, rectify your mistake and make it clear to your followers what was incorrect information and what was correct.

“My way of working is such that I dive as deep to the root of the information as I can. If it’s about a Finnish study, it’s quite easy because here you can call anyone.”
Noora Shingler
social media influencer, Kemikaalicocktail

“If a customer delivers me source material and it’s a study, for instance, I always ask for more information: what is this study, who conducted it, did you fund it, can I get more detailed information. If it’s a cooperation I cannot fully stand behind and if there’s something unclear, I simply won’t do it. One example is of a natural product developed for treating children’s colds. I have an article ready about it. I got to see some research results and published an article. But now I have hidden it because the research source is still not publicly available online. I will only re-release the article when I can link the source.”
Noora Shingler
social media influencer, Kemikaalicocktail

“Facts can be checked by googling. In serious matters, for instance in those related to health, you should call an expert.”
Emmi Nuorgam
author & journalist

“When you discuss sources so openly, it’s possible that some incorrect information ends up in there, too, and then I hope my viewers will comment about it. For me, it’s important to know if some information is incorrect because then I can correct the error.”
Mikko Toiviainen
social media influencer, Kalenterikarju

When you share content produced by others

1. Think for three seconds before sharing anything.

2. Never share a link based on only the headline, always check the entire content.

3. Separate facts from opinions. Does the article claim something? Who claims what? Opinions, guesses, hopes or encouragement are not statements.

4. Check the claim from a reliable source that includes e.g. Finnish media, authorities and research institutes. For instance, you can google the claim in the article and check if you can find it elsewhere online.

5. Evaluate critically if the images are in the correct context and if they have been modified to change the truth.

6. Never share anything that contains false information. Not even when you want to say that you have identified a piece of fake news or are appalled of the incorrect claim. Sharing false information always serves the spreader of disinformation even if your intention was the opposite.

“Fact checking... You have to use detective skills for that because the world is full of facts. Verifying an individual thing takes quite a bit of work, but if it’s information that is important to share, then it’s worth the effort.”
Sonja Hernesniemi
CEO of the Finnish Society on Media Education

“I’m very careful about what I say on social media, what I write, what I talk about on my videos. I always start by first googling as many sources as possible. If you know at all how to use Google, it’s surprisingly easy to find sources. They contain all kinds of information, then you just have to fit the pieces together and interpret who is saying what and how is this related to the context. It’s not easy.”
Konsta Linkola
photographer & influencer

Instructions for communicating commercial collaboration

In Finland, surreptitious advertising is forbidden by the Consumer Protection Act. This means that all mediaconsumers must easily be able to tell advertisements apart from other media content and identify when there is an intent to influence them commercially.

Guidelines from the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority: The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority has created guidelines on how commercial collaboration must be communicated in influencer marketing.

The main rule is that it must be always indicated clearly at the start of the post that this is an advertisement. In addition, the name of the company or the brand that is advertised must be mentioned. This applies to both cooperation where money is exchanged, as well as products or services received free of charge.

The Consumer Ombudsman recommends that the expression “advertisement” is used in the communications. An alternative way of communicating is using the expression “commercial collaboration”.

“When you create commercial content, it must be expressed very clearly. In addition, you should remember that if someone offers you readymade content, research data or some other information for sharing, think about why they want to do that. Why does this person or this company want to spread this information? Find out who has conducted the research and where it comes from. Ask for sources and publish them.”
Noora Shingler
social media influencer, Kemikaalicocktail

PING Ethics code: You can check the correct ways of communicating commercial collaboration from the PING Ethics code. It includes concrete examples of the practices on different social media channels.

PING Ethics is a shared ethical code for content producers and companies, aimed at promoting fairness and transparency in influencer marketing. All the legislation, regulations and instructions as well as established practices of the industry are collected in the code.

The ethics code maintained by PING Helsinki has been created in cooperation with social media content creators as well as businesses and organisations that work with content marketing. By signing the PING Ethics code, an influencer or business can show its audience, customers or partners that they are committed to engaging in responsible and open influencer marketing.

Every influencer is responsible for the information they share on their channels. A responsible influencer aims at producing, publishing and spreading only reliable information and preventing the spreading of false information.

1. State clearly what is your opinion and what is true, or a fact.
A fact is a thing that is known or proved to be true and of which there is somewhat of a consensus, or it is a real-life event. The truth is based on facts that can be verified. People may have opinions of matters of taste, values or political ideologies, for instance.

2. Choose your topics and partners carefully.
Only cooperate with businesses that act responsibly and share the same values as you.

3. Communicate commercial collaborations clearly.
Your followers have the right to know which of your content has been executed in cooperation with a commercial operator. Communicating commercial collaborations in accordance with the guidelines of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority benefits you, your followers, your partner as well as the entire influencer marketing industry.

“You have to think about your own values. Sometimes I have received offers of cooperation where it would have made financial sense to accept the offer but I have had to say no thank you because the company behind the product is not in line with my values. Sometimes it’s very difficult.”
Karita Tykkä
wellness entrepreneur & influencer

“My tip for an influencer who wants to act responsibly: Make a list of your own values and start mirroring everything you do through them.”
Sara Vanninen
social media influencer, Sara Tickle

4. Only use reliable sources.
Information published by traditional Finnish news media and Finnish authorities is usually reliable. Businesses, advocacy groups as well as various political and ideological operators, on the other hand, are not neutral sources. If you are not sure if your source is independent and reliable, try to find the same information from some other and maybe even a third source.

5. Check your facts.
If you are saying something is true, make sure that it really is true. Google the same information from other sources, too, and assess if they are reliable. Always check the facts of materials provided to you by commercial partners, too.

6. Think for three seconds before sharing anything.
When you encounter a news article or some other content on social media that surprises you, astonishes you, makes you boil with anger or evokes some other emotions in you and if you feel like immediately sharing it to your own followers, stop and think for a moment. What does the article claim? Who is saying it? Can the claim be true? Who has published the article? Where has it been published? Why has it been published? What do they want to achieve with it? If you are not sure if something is true, don’t share it.

“I wish that more Finnish influencers made different social, effective content without fear and that they didn't have to be scared of what they should do in this situation and where to get the correct information. It’s great that Media Pool has started to do this project, and it’s great to be involved and tell other influencers about this.”
Mikko Toiviainen
social media influencer, Kalenterikarju

“Influencers don’t want to touch many important topics because they are afraid of the reactions they may cause. It’s also a problem for the society if there are some important things that aren’t discussed in fear of the reactions. Then we don’t get reliable information and cannot have discussions, which would be very much needed. When we don’t have a factual discussion, we make room for false information.”
Tero Koskinen
Head of Preparedness, Media Pool

7. Get to know the entire content before sharing.
Never like, comment or share content on social media based only on the headline.

8. Assess if the images are authentic or if they have been edited to modify the truth.

9. Fix your mistakes.
If you see that you have published false information or shared untrue content, admit that you made a mistake and fix it. Tell your followers what was not true in the content you shared, why the incorrect information was published and, above all, say what is the correct information. If you do not know what the truth is, you can say that, too.

10. Report false information.
If you come across articles containing false information on social media, intervene. If the publisher is a representative of traditional media, report the error to the publication’s editor-in-chief. If the article comes from a fake news site, clickbait site or some other suspicious source, report the post to the social media channel’s administration.

“Don’t be afraid of influencing. Many influencers are competent in the feel good market and producing commercial content but don’t be afraid to use your voice for bringing out issues that you feel are significant. And when you do take a stand, explain everything thoroughly. And so that you can reason and explain your opinions, you have to study the topic a little. Find reliable information from credible sources and spend some time on it. Probably your followers will feel that, too.”
Konsta Linkola
photographer & influencer

“I call for courage. There are many different voices and opinions in the world. It’s important to discuss matters and it’s important to operate responsibly and present facts as facts and opinions as opinions. I hope that other people, too, would make more responsible content.”
Mikko Toiviainen
social media influencer, Kalenterikarju