From the perspective of knowledge equals power, intentional misinformation, no matter by whom, could be regarded as abuse of power.
More people should educate those knowing less instead of ridiculing their ignorance. (Given the “knowing” really “know”, but that’s another topic.)
Edit: Intentional misinformation meaning posting and spreading “fake news”, willfully publishing or sharing false information through media of any kind, as organization or individual, not merely everyday lyingy which is sth different.
Edit 2: Apparently it’s “misinformation” not “disinformation” sorry.
But what if it’s really funny at the time?
Well it depends on the gravity of the misinformation right? Is it just a small prank or are you substantially influencing someone’s world view? How grave are the consequences of the misinformation for the affected? How much distress does the misinformation cause them? I suppose there’s always differences in degree.
Like the thing about the swedish scientists finding out a person ate like 20-50 Spiders in their lifetime while asleep, bc of spiders crawling into our mouths, which turned out to be fake news that was supposed to show how much easier misinformation spread if you just put the claim in that “scientists found out”. Still many ppl believe it though.
So is it harmful to people who have severe arachnophobia? Is it just a funny experiment?
Like this