The Anatomy of Disinformation: Why It Spreads and How It Operates at Every Level

Disinformation—the intentional spread of false or misleading information—has become one of the defining threats of our time. Whether it's a tweet that sparks panic, a state-sponsored campaign that topples trust in institutions, or a viral meme selling fake cures, disinformation thrives in our hyperconnected world.

But why does disinformation spread? Who’s behind it? And how does it differ at the level of an individual troll versus a global intelligence agency?

This blog post dives deep into the motivations, scales, and real-world examples of disinformation, complete with structured tables to help you decode its anatomy.

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🎯 Why Does Disinformation Spread?

Disinformation isn’t random. It’s strategic, purposeful, and targeted. Motivations range from political gain to financial profit, ideological indoctrination to trolling “for the lulz.”

Here’s a breakdown of the key motivations behind disinformation, with compelling real-world examples:

Table 1: Motivations Behind Disinformation and Examples

Motivation	Purpose	Example
Political Power & Influence	Sway elections, justify policy, undermine opposition	Russian interference in 2016 U.S. elections
Economic Gain	Drive ad clicks, sell products	Fake news farms in Macedonia promoting Trump
Ideological or Religious Zeal	Recruit followers, justify violence	ISIS propaganda portraying utopia in the caliphate
Social Control & Censorship	Suppress dissent, distract from domestic failures	China’s erasure of the Tiananmen Square Massacre
Geopolitical Warfare	Destabilize rivals, shift alliances	Russian disinfo on Ukraine before 2022 invasion
Revenge / Personal Vendetta	Destroy reputations, settle scores	Deepfake revenge porn targeting activists
Trolling or Humor	Cause chaos, bait media, entertain	4chan’s “OK hand sign = white power” hoax

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🌍 Disinformation at Different Scales

Disinformation manifests differently depending on the scale—from the solo troll to the state-run bot farm.

Table 2: Disinformation by Scale

Scale	Key Actors	Tactics Used	Example
Individual	Trolls, influencers, grifters	Viral tweets, fake screenshots	Influencers selling fake COVID-19 cures
Group / Community	Religious cults, political subcultures	Memes, private chat groups, YouTube rabbit holes	Anti-vax Facebook groups targeting parents
National	Governments, ruling parties	News manipulation, media blackout	Myanmar military’s anti-Rohingya Facebook campaigns
Global	Intelligence agencies, state propaganda	Sophisticated botnets, deepfakes, fake NGOs	Russian bots during Brexit and U.S. elections

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🔍 Deep Dive: Real-World Examples Across Motivations

Let’s explore a few cases in more detail to show how disinformation adapts across contexts.

🎭 Political Power & Influence

Example: Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Election

• Fake American identities on Facebook and Twitter spread divisive narratives on race, guns, and immigration.

• Goal: Increase polarization and discredit the democratic process.

💸 Economic Gain

Example: Macedonian fake news factories

• Teenagers in Veles made thousands of dollars publishing clickbait stories like “Pope Endorses Trump” to lure traffic.

🕌 Ideological Zeal

Example: ISIS propaganda

• Videos portrayed life in the Islamic State as peaceful and devout, omitting executions and repression to recruit Western Muslims.

🧩 Geopolitical Warfare

Example: Russia’s disinfo before Ukraine invasion (2022)

• Falsely accused Ukraine of genocide and Nazism to justify the invasion.

• Claimed staged attacks to frame Ukrainian forces.

🤖 Humor & Trolling

Example: 4chan’s OK sign hoax

• A campaign suggested the “OK” hand symbol was secretly a white supremacist gesture, baiting journalists and watchdogs.

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🧠 How to Spot and Stop Disinformation

Disinformation succeeds when:

• It confirms existing biases (“confirmation bias”).

• It plays on emotions (fear, anger, moral outrage).

• It spreads faster than corrections (virality > truth).

🛠 Tools for Resilience:

• Lateral reading: Cross-check unfamiliar sources.

• Media literacy education: Know how algorithms amplify falsehoods.

• Fact-checking tools: Use sites like Snopes, PolitiFact, or FactCheck.org.

• Platform accountability: Push for transparency in content moderation.

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🧭 Final Thoughts

Disinformation is not just a byproduct of the digital age—it’s a weapon. Whether used by authoritarian states, rogue actors, or opportunistic marketers, it thrives on manipulating what we believe and how we behave.

Understanding its motives and scales is the first step toward disarming it.

The Origin of HIV: A Tale of Two Theories

How did one of the deadliest viruses in human history make the leap from animal to man? The origin of HIV, which has claimed over 36 million lives, is not just a virological mystery—it's a profound narrative about science, medicine, colonialism, and the unintended consequences of human ambition. Two competing theories offer radically different explanations: one rooted in the slow march of evolutionary biology, and the other in a chilling case of iatrogenic tragedy.

🧪 Edward Hooper’s The River: A Medical Whodunnit

In his epic 1,000-page tome The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS (1999), journalist Edward Hooper launches a sweeping investigation into a deeply unsettling possibility: that the HIV pandemic may have begun not in the forests of Central Africa, but in a laboratory.

Hooper’s hypothesis centers on an experimental oral polio vaccine (OPV) campaign conducted in the late 1950s in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. These vaccines, he argues, may have been grown in kidney cells from local chimpanzees—unknowingly harboring the simian ancestor of HIV, SIVcpz. When hundreds of thousands of people received the vaccine, this contaminated biological cocktail could have seeded the first human HIV infections.

He makes a compelling circumstantial case:

• The geographic overlap is uncanny—the earliest HIV samples appear close to the vaccination sites.

• The timing fits—the vaccinations occurred just before the first confirmed HIV-positive blood sample (from 1959).

• Biological precedent exists—simian viruses like SV40 have contaminated polio vaccines before.

But Hooper’s narrative isn’t just a theory—it’s a warning. It’s a story about how well-intentioned science, cloaked in colonial urgency, might have triggered an unprecedented epidemic.

🧬 Sharp & Hahn: The Calm of Genetic Evidence

In contrast, virologists Paul Sharp and Beatrice Hahn bring molecular precision to the mystery in their landmark 2011 paper, “Origins of HIV and the AIDS Pandemic.” Their conclusion? HIV-1 group M—the virus responsible for the global pandemic—emerged through natural zoonotic spillover.

Using phylogenetics, they traced HIV’s ancestry back to a specific subspecies of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in southeastern Cameroon. Their data shows that:

• HIV-1’s closest relative is SIVcpz, found in these chimps.

• The most recent common ancestor of group M likely dates to around 1908, decades before the OPV campaigns.

• The virus likely entered humans through bushmeat exposure, then spread via colonial trade routes, sex work, and unsterile medical practices in early 20th-century Central Africa.

Their model doesn’t dismiss the possibility of human error, but it argues that HIV emerged long before OPV trials began. It also provides direct genetic evidence—something Hooper’s theory lacks.

⚖️ A Tale of Two Truths?

So who’s right?

In the court of scientific consensus, Sharp and Hahn have prevailed. Their findings are supported by dozens of studies and stand on a foundation of genetic data and evolutionary modeling. Hooper’s theory, while provocative and deeply researched, hasn’t found support in molecular evidence. In fact, tests on leftover vaccine samples failed to show any trace of chimpanzee DNA or SIV contamination.

Yet Hooper’s work remains valuable—not because it solves the mystery, but because it raises ethical questions science can’t afford to ignore. What happens when research in vulnerable populations goes unmonitored? When ambition outruns caution? In the rush to do good, do we sometimes overlook the risks?

🌍 Lessons for the Present

The HIV origin debate is more than historical curiosity—it echoes in our current world. The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited discussions about lab leaks versus natural spillovers. The boundary between nature and science is porous, and the stakes are unimaginably high.

As we engineer vaccines, alter genomes, and explore synthetic biology, Hooper’s The River and Sharp & Hahn’s meticulous genetics offer a dual lesson: Seek the truth fearlessly—but wield science humbly.

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Sources:

• Hooper, E. (1999). The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS.

• Sharp, P. M., & Hahn, B. H. (2011). Origins of HIV and the AIDS Pandemic. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine.

Truth Under Siege: Why Salim Abdool Karim's Faraday Lecture Matters Now More Than Ever

In a world increasingly dominated by misinformation and institutional distrust, Professor Salim Abdool Karim’s 2024 Faraday Prize Lecture lands with the force of a thunderclap. Entitled “Science Under Threat: The Rise of Institutionalized Disinformation,” his address is not just a sobering assessment of our present — it is a call to action for the future of science, democracy, and truth itself.

The Virus of Disinformation

Karim, a globally respected epidemiologist and HIV/AIDS researcher, begins by recounting a disturbing lie: that the HIV virus was manufactured by U.S. scientists and spread via polio vaccines in Africa. This conspiracy theory, once fringe, found foothold thanks to politically motivated disinformation campaigns — notably one orchestrated by the KGB.

This is not just history. It's a template.

Karim traces how the deliberate spread of falsehoods — from HIV/AIDS to COVID-19 and beyond — has been weaponized by states, corporations, and individuals. In particular, he lays bare how Donald Trump's presidency transformed the U.S. government from a source of truth into a megaphone for unverified, often dangerous, claims. From bleach as a COVID cure to downplaying climate change, Karim highlights how institutional trust erodes when leaders themselves become super-spreaders of lies.

State Capture: A Global Pandemic

Perhaps the lecture’s most chilling insight is the notion of “state capture.” Using South Africa under Jacob Zuma as a case study, Karim details how leaders seize not just power, but the very machinery meant to hold them accountable — courts, media, law enforcement, and science agencies. Then he draws an alarming parallel: the U.S., he suggests, is on a similar path under Trump 2.0, complete with a dismantled Department of Justice, co-opted media, and gutted scientific agencies like NIH and the FDA.

Science as the Final Front

Karim argues that science is not just collateral damage in this war on truth — it's a primary target. Scientists are being silenced, data suppressed, and grants cancelled (especially those related to climate change, LGBTQ health, and infectious diseases). The consequences are global. Karim himself reports that his own HIV research unit in South Africa lost half its funding due to U.S. cuts.

And yet, amid the bleakness, he offers hope.

Karim calls on scientists to embrace a new, more public role: as truth sayers. When governments mislead, scientists must become society’s trusted navigators — clearly communicating evidence, rebuilding public trust, and pushing back against narrative manipulation. “Every small act of resistance matters,” he says, likening the fight for truth to the struggle against apartheid, which once also seemed insurmountable.

A Lecture for Our Times

More than a lecture, this was a manifesto. A reminder that the future of democracy, health, and planetary survival hinges on our collective capacity to defend facts. In an age where “experts” emerge from the universities of WhatsApp and Facebook, the real experts — scientists, doctors, journalists — must rise louder and more boldly than ever.

Karim’s words are urgent, necessary, and clear: if we don't stand up for science now, there may soon be nothing left to stand on.

Listen to the full lecture here: 

The Faraday Prize Lecture is an annual event organized by the Royal Society to honor the recipient of the Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture, awarded for excellence in communicating science to UK audiences. Named after the legendary scientist and communicator Michael Faraday, the prize celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to public engagement with science through writing, speaking, or broadcasting. The lecture provides an opportunity for the awardee to share their insights on science’s role in society, bridging complex scientific ideas with accessible, compelling narratives. In 2024, the prize was awarded to Professor Salim Abdool Karim, whose lecture tackled the urgent and global issue of institutionalized disinformation and its threat to science, democracy, and public trust.