Features of disinformation: An expert interview study on the perception of disinformation among societal elites in government, politics, journalism and industry

Unger, Saïd; Klapproth, Johanna; Boberg, Svenja; Bösch, Marcus; Vief, Nils; Stöcker, Christian; Quandt, Thorsten

Abstract

To curb the spread of disinformation, societal decision-makers are working intensively on the design of effective intervention strategies. Primarily elites from the sectors of politics, administration, journalism and economics are responsible for the implementation of detection measures due to their professional position. While the identification of disinformation features is central for the conceptualizing of detection strategies, it is still unclear how  elites define and perceive disinformation. We interviewed German disinformation experts and decision-makers from journalism, politics, government, and economics (N=58) to explore how they narrow down relevant features of disinformation and associated campaigns. By shifting the focus of disinformation detection from technical solutions to perceptions of the involved actors, we present a typology of key disinformation features based on the experiences of the interviewed elites. While the definition of disinformation as intentional and false information to cause harm has become a widely accepted concept, the focus on specific disinformation features varies greatly depending on sector, organization size and public exposure. The array of identified actors, reasons, targets, audiences and processes of disinformation can be used for understanding and optimizing disinformation detection strategies in the future.

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