Government Disinformation Board done before it started

Disinformation is dangerous. It encourages and helps people believe things that are not true. Like Russia’s President telling his people that Ukraine would welcome them and that the war is going well. Or former President Trump telling his supporters the election was stolen. We see it everywhere these days. But it isn’t so easy to spot anymore. It used to be reserved for magazines like National Enquirer at the checkout line. We knew those stories weren’t true. An alien didn’t really abduct Elvis who is somehow still alive in Kalamazoo, Michigan. But today there is disinformation everywhere, particularly online. It can look real, and be easily believable. That doesn’t make it true. It is important that people have the truth, particularly in times of crisis. That is in part why the federal government formed what it called a Disinformation Board, an arm of the Homeland Security Agency, to help the American people learn what is true and what isn’t. It was bound for failure and was scrapped within three weeks. It sounded too much like the Ministry of Truth, or some online speech police force. We probably don’t want the government telling us what is true, especially from the Disinformation Board. But disinformation remains a geopolitical threat. It makes us weaker as a country.  If we can’t tell truth from fiction, or feel we can’t trust anything anyone says, then disinformation has already done its job.