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On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy
A powerful, pocket-sized citizen’s guide on how to fight back against the disinformation campaigns that are imperiling American democracy, from the bestselling author of Post-Truth and How to Talk to a Science Denier .
The effort to destroy facts and make America ungovernable didn’t come out of nowhere. It is the culmination of seventy years of strategic denialism. In On Disinformation , Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. Drawing on his twenty years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread, and most importantly, how we can win the war on truth.
McIntyre takes readers through the history of strategic denialism to show how we arrived at this precarious political moment and identifies the creators, amplifiers, and believers of disinformation. Along the way, he also demonstrates how today’s “reality denial” follows the same flawed blueprint of the “five steps of science denial” used by climate deniers and anti-vaxxers; shows how Trump has emulated disinformation tactics created by Russian and Soviet intelligence dating back to the 1920s; provides interviews with leading experts on information warfare, counterterrorism, and political extremism; and spells out the need for algorithmic transparency from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. On Disinformation lays out ten everyday practical steps that we can take as ordinary citizens—from resisting polarization to pressuring our Congresspeople to regulate social media—as well as the important steps our government (if we elect the right leaders) must take.
Compact, easy-to-read (and then pass on to a friend), and never more urgent, On Disinformation does nothing less than empower us with the tools and knowledge needed to save our republic from autocracy before it is too late.
The effort to destroy facts and make America ungovernable didn’t come out of nowhere. It is the culmination of seventy years of strategic denialism. In On Disinformation , Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. Drawing on his twenty years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread, and most importantly, how we can win the war on truth.
McIntyre takes readers through the history of strategic denialism to show how we arrived at this precarious political moment and identifies the creators, amplifiers, and believers of disinformation. Along the way, he also demonstrates how today’s “reality denial” follows the same flawed blueprint of the “five steps of science denial” used by climate deniers and anti-vaxxers; shows how Trump has emulated disinformation tactics created by Russian and Soviet intelligence dating back to the 1920s; provides interviews with leading experts on information warfare, counterterrorism, and political extremism; and spells out the need for algorithmic transparency from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. On Disinformation lays out ten everyday practical steps that we can take as ordinary citizens—from resisting polarization to pressuring our Congresspeople to regulate social media—as well as the important steps our government (if we elect the right leaders) must take.
Compact, easy-to-read (and then pass on to a friend), and never more urgent, On Disinformation does nothing less than empower us with the tools and knowledge needed to save our republic from autocracy before it is too late.
184 pages, Paperback
Published August 22, 2023
87 people are currently reading
2504 people want to read
About the author
Lee McIntyre
16 books201 followersI am a philosopher and my goal is to write books that engage our minds and connect with issues that we all care about. In my non-fiction, I am particularly interested in defending science against all forms of science denial and post-truth. In my fiction, I seek to raise moral questions that push us to the limit of what we would do to protect the people we love. It gets me excited when I reach an audience who may never have thought they would like philosophy, but it speaks to them. These days I still do some philosophical scholarship--and I teach ethics--but most days I can be found at my desk writing, with two big German Shepherds snoring at my feet.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
November 21, 2024
This is a short, succinct, and easily digestible audiobook. At about 2 hours long, depending on your listening speed, it’s perfect for someone wanting to learn about disinformation, but not read an entire, full-length book on the subject. The narrator has a clear voice and is easy to follow.
4.25 stars!
4.25 stars!
April 6, 2025
I know a lot of you who follow me on here are librarians too, this book is for you as information professionals. There's a lot here to act on. It's theory mixed with practice for the average person. The book mainly focuses on the need for big corporations and the government to change how we interact with disinformation campaigns, but there's work we can do on the individual level, and McIntyre implores us to do this work.
As I've worked in libraries for six years, in a variety of types, whether special, school, or public, I've seen the need for activist approaches in each of them. How might we best support the communities our libraries live in? We support the people. No matter their background and no matter their political affiliation. We need to approach those who may believe conspiracies with kindness and challenge their thinking, moving them towards healing from disinformation.
Information Literacy is a need for all schools, working to understand when a source is reliable or not, how to think critically about information, etc., but we can't do that if the students and their parents are already down the rabbithole of conspiracy. I know I see it in the school and community I work in now. The source needs to be addressed. Facebook and Youtube and Twitter all need to fight this like they fight their other moderating focuses, and the government needs to fight for fair information sharing initiatives. But that comes with voting and informing the masses--those congresspeople in power who support the spreading of disinformation are some of our biggest threats. There is a reason disinformation spreads--it is purposeful and targeted. There's a hope to earn something from the belief of the many--and that something may be an authoritarian state.
As I've worked in libraries for six years, in a variety of types, whether special, school, or public, I've seen the need for activist approaches in each of them. How might we best support the communities our libraries live in? We support the people. No matter their background and no matter their political affiliation. We need to approach those who may believe conspiracies with kindness and challenge their thinking, moving them towards healing from disinformation.
Information Literacy is a need for all schools, working to understand when a source is reliable or not, how to think critically about information, etc., but we can't do that if the students and their parents are already down the rabbithole of conspiracy. I know I see it in the school and community I work in now. The source needs to be addressed. Facebook and Youtube and Twitter all need to fight this like they fight their other moderating focuses, and the government needs to fight for fair information sharing initiatives. But that comes with voting and informing the masses--those congresspeople in power who support the spreading of disinformation are some of our biggest threats. There is a reason disinformation spreads--it is purposeful and targeted. There's a hope to earn something from the belief of the many--and that something may be an authoritarian state.
June 23, 2023
An accessible, tiny (but powerful!) manifesto or call-to-action about the state of reality denial and plague of misinformation, reminiscent of Snyder's On Tyranny. Basically, Russia would be proud at how well we are following in their footsteps, the electoral voting process needs to be demolished (duh), and all information is owned by billionaires. It is very depressing, I'll be honest. But I learned so much and feel I am better mentally prepared to deal with reality deniers (aka Trumpism but not limited to that). Hopefully with more awareness of the technical processes behind information dissemination that this pamphlet illuminates, we can work on depolarizing a lot of issues.
If you haven't read Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild, I highly recommend it too. Though this book will also give you a dozen more authors to look up.
If you haven't read Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild, I highly recommend it too. Though this book will also give you a dozen more authors to look up.
September 10, 2025
4.5/5 - Published in 2023, On Disinformation offers stark warnings - rooted in both history and statistics - as to the dangers to our democracy if we allow disinformation to propagate unchecked. And yet, from the vantage point of September 2025, its warnings seem positively optimistic and almost quaint.
February 13, 2025
4.5/5
At only 18 months old (Aug 2023), the book reads as a "told-you-so" at this point (Feb 2025).
Short, sharp, angry, scary -- it's a book the size of your hand, one you can read in a weekend, and then get to work for months, calling, writing, and doing what you can locally and within your sphere of influence to un-fuck what's happening in the United States by actors claiming to be patriots who are un-American traitors and criminals. Every day there will be more people waking up, but I think we're being outpaced by the firehose of change, distraction, and executive actions. And in a time of fractured social media, without objective truth, I don't see a path in which consensus and logic and empathy return to the States in my lifetime. Sorry to bum you out. But I'm tired. I'm 39, been politically active since I was 19. And I'm looking down a road in which I may not have the emotional bandwidth to marathon-run in the name of being vigilant for democracy. The task was always a tough one, but now feels insurmountable to protect. Our weapons of accountability, reality, and free press have been terrorized and minimized.
I've been an optimist my whole life, but I'm increasing suspicious that this was itself a privilege as a white '90s kid. Realism is setting in. Not apathy. Not pessimism. Just cold realism.
At only 18 months old (Aug 2023), the book reads as a "told-you-so" at this point (Feb 2025).
Short, sharp, angry, scary -- it's a book the size of your hand, one you can read in a weekend, and then get to work for months, calling, writing, and doing what you can locally and within your sphere of influence to un-fuck what's happening in the United States by actors claiming to be patriots who are un-American traitors and criminals. Every day there will be more people waking up, but I think we're being outpaced by the firehose of change, distraction, and executive actions. And in a time of fractured social media, without objective truth, I don't see a path in which consensus and logic and empathy return to the States in my lifetime. Sorry to bum you out. But I'm tired. I'm 39, been politically active since I was 19. And I'm looking down a road in which I may not have the emotional bandwidth to marathon-run in the name of being vigilant for democracy. The task was always a tough one, but now feels insurmountable to protect. Our weapons of accountability, reality, and free press have been terrorized and minimized.
I've been an optimist my whole life, but I'm increasing suspicious that this was itself a privilege as a white '90s kid. Realism is setting in. Not apathy. Not pessimism. Just cold realism.
March 27, 2024
This was an interesting little read. The most helpful part is the end with suggestions on fighting a tyrannical take over. I would have liked to see less name calling and blind acceptance of one political side—which goes against his suggestions to be kind as one speaks up for truth and to not assume the “other side” is always wrong.
June 30, 2025
Como siempre, McIntyre es claro, conciso y directo para explicar aquello que nos amenaza constantemente por ser un problema para la sociedad y el Estado, y también es consciente de las limitaciones de sus propuestas para contrarrestar la amenaza. No obstante, esa honestidad y puntualidad sobre qué estrategias y herramientas usar contra los “asesinos de la verdad”, como los llama a quienes creen en las mentiras de la desinformación para negar la realidad, la pone a nuestro alcance para escalarla lo más posible y motivarnos a nunca dejar de lado la luchar por la verdad.
Read
April 24, 2025DNF. Starts off okay talking about tobacco company denial of smoking’s dangers as a textbook example of disinformation. But then I think the conclusion should have returned to that with how the tobacco control movement is the model for public good and overcoming disinformation. Instead there are more negative examples and some generic arguments about what you ought to do.
May 8, 2024
“The first step in winning an information war is to admit that we are already in one.”
This quote summarises the call the arms in this brief but powerful long essay by Boston-based philosopher Lee McIntyre on how to fight back against the disinformation campaigns that are imperiling democracy.
The focus is primarily on the MAGA movement behind Trump, but it is really about the quite consciously and deliberatively driven campaign by far right, billionaire-funded forces to use lies and misinformation to create distrust of democratic institutions and polarise the population.
Using the tactics developed by the tobacco lobby in the 1950s and 1960s to deny the link between smoking and cancer and later by the fossil fuel sector in denying the science of climate change, the Trumpist authoritarian movement is seeking to destroy democracy by killing the truth, McIntyre writes:
“The post-truth playbook goes like this: attack the truth tellers, lie about anything and everything, manufacture disinformation, encourage distrust and polarization, create confusion and cynicism, then claim that the truth is available only from the leader himself. The goal is not merely to get people to believe any particular false claim, but to so demoralize them with a tsunami of falsehoods that they begin to give up on the idea that truth can be known at all, outside a political context.”
This concept will be familiar to anyone who has read ‘This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality’ by expatriate Russian journalist Peter Pomerantsev, based on his experience with the Putin regime. The people behind Trump, like the loathsome Steve Bannon, learnt well from the Russians - ‘flood the system with bullshit’ so no-one knows what to believe anymore. As McIntrye says, it doesn’t take much to have ordinary people believing that the sky is green, not blue, or that 1+1 = 3.
At the centre of the misinformation complex are only a few dozen truth killers. But all they need is a distribution and amplification system - and now they have several - not only in the social media cesspits of Musk’s X and Zuckerberg’s Facebook, but in the mainstream media companies where public interest journalism has been dying a slow death for decades.
At worst, players like Fox News are not only nakedly partisan but have a business model built on stoking division through the distribution of outright lies and propaganda. But even at best, supposedly straight-shooting professional journalists are complicit by driving a narrative of conflict, failure and chaos. They normalise creeping authoritarianism by ‘performative objectivity’ which positions reality has residing halfway between the truth and a lie.
“Mainstream media can be truth killers too—or at least bystanders who refuse to render aid when the truth is dying,” McIntyre writes.
The last part of book suggests some ways of pushing back against the misinformation tide, such as forcing social media companies to reveal the design of their algorithms or reintroducing in the US the fairness doctrine which once forced media companies to provide all sides of a story. Predictably, the neoliberal champions of ‘freedom’ are pushing back against this as censorship in the naive belief that the truth will emerge from a ‘free information economy’.
But we know it doesn’t work like that. The people fighting the information war on the other side are not just promoting an alternative viewpoint. Their intent is to actively destroy the institutions of liberal democracy by fomenting distrust and polarising society. You would have to conclude they are winning this war, so far.
Essential reading.
This quote summarises the call the arms in this brief but powerful long essay by Boston-based philosopher Lee McIntyre on how to fight back against the disinformation campaigns that are imperiling democracy.
The focus is primarily on the MAGA movement behind Trump, but it is really about the quite consciously and deliberatively driven campaign by far right, billionaire-funded forces to use lies and misinformation to create distrust of democratic institutions and polarise the population.
Using the tactics developed by the tobacco lobby in the 1950s and 1960s to deny the link between smoking and cancer and later by the fossil fuel sector in denying the science of climate change, the Trumpist authoritarian movement is seeking to destroy democracy by killing the truth, McIntyre writes:
“The post-truth playbook goes like this: attack the truth tellers, lie about anything and everything, manufacture disinformation, encourage distrust and polarization, create confusion and cynicism, then claim that the truth is available only from the leader himself. The goal is not merely to get people to believe any particular false claim, but to so demoralize them with a tsunami of falsehoods that they begin to give up on the idea that truth can be known at all, outside a political context.”
This concept will be familiar to anyone who has read ‘This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality’ by expatriate Russian journalist Peter Pomerantsev, based on his experience with the Putin regime. The people behind Trump, like the loathsome Steve Bannon, learnt well from the Russians - ‘flood the system with bullshit’ so no-one knows what to believe anymore. As McIntrye says, it doesn’t take much to have ordinary people believing that the sky is green, not blue, or that 1+1 = 3.
At the centre of the misinformation complex are only a few dozen truth killers. But all they need is a distribution and amplification system - and now they have several - not only in the social media cesspits of Musk’s X and Zuckerberg’s Facebook, but in the mainstream media companies where public interest journalism has been dying a slow death for decades.
At worst, players like Fox News are not only nakedly partisan but have a business model built on stoking division through the distribution of outright lies and propaganda. But even at best, supposedly straight-shooting professional journalists are complicit by driving a narrative of conflict, failure and chaos. They normalise creeping authoritarianism by ‘performative objectivity’ which positions reality has residing halfway between the truth and a lie.
“Mainstream media can be truth killers too—or at least bystanders who refuse to render aid when the truth is dying,” McIntyre writes.
The last part of book suggests some ways of pushing back against the misinformation tide, such as forcing social media companies to reveal the design of their algorithms or reintroducing in the US the fairness doctrine which once forced media companies to provide all sides of a story. Predictably, the neoliberal champions of ‘freedom’ are pushing back against this as censorship in the naive belief that the truth will emerge from a ‘free information economy’.
But we know it doesn’t work like that. The people fighting the information war on the other side are not just promoting an alternative viewpoint. Their intent is to actively destroy the institutions of liberal democracy by fomenting distrust and polarising society. You would have to conclude they are winning this war, so far.
Essential reading.
March 14, 2025
This one was a little spooky. I for one think the truth is pretty cool 😎
January 1, 2024
พูดถึง disinformation ได้กระชับและตรงจุด พร้อมเสนอวิธีรับมือกับมัน และรับมือหรือช่วยเหลือคนที่เชื่อถือมัน อธิบายกระบวนการและองค์ประกอบที่สนับสนุนให้ disinformation ดำรงอยู่ ได้อย่างชัดเจน … ชอบ
The truth does not die when liars take power; it dies when truth tellers stop defending it.
The truth does not die when liars take power; it dies when truth tellers stop defending it.
February 29, 2024
"What might ordinary citizens do to fight back [the creation, spread, and amplification of disinformation]? In addition to the general advice already offered–which might be heeded by government, media, and big tech– what are some practical steps that the rest of us can take?
First, confront the liars….
Second, heed history…
A third step…is to resist polarization…
Fourth, as hard as it is, recognize that in some sense deniers are victims. They have been duped. They are the zombie foot soldiers of the creators of disinformation, who are profiting by their ignorance, while the believer gets nothing…
Fifth, tune out the bullshit…
Sixth, don’t fall for the sop that this can all be solved by ‘better education’ or ‘critical thinking.’...
Seventh, stop looking for facile solutions to the problem of disinformation…
Eighth, engage in political activism to try to get Congress to regulate social media….while you’re at it, encourage them to push harder for voting rights and electoral reform…
Ninth, take solace in the fact that there are many others out there who are also engaged in this battle. ..
Tenth, continue to learn more about the problem of reality denial and its consequences for democracy…
…The forces arrayed against the discovery of truth and the use of reason do not die, they wait. They are reborn into every age. It is like hammering mercury. They may disappear for a while, but eventually they gather.
We have been born into an age in which science and reason–indeed truth and reality itself–once again need defending. Embrace this. Don’t give in to despair. There is something you can do today to fight back against the truth killers.”
First, confront the liars….
Second, heed history…
A third step…is to resist polarization…
Fourth, as hard as it is, recognize that in some sense deniers are victims. They have been duped. They are the zombie foot soldiers of the creators of disinformation, who are profiting by their ignorance, while the believer gets nothing…
Fifth, tune out the bullshit…
Sixth, don’t fall for the sop that this can all be solved by ‘better education’ or ‘critical thinking.’...
Seventh, stop looking for facile solutions to the problem of disinformation…
Eighth, engage in political activism to try to get Congress to regulate social media….while you’re at it, encourage them to push harder for voting rights and electoral reform…
Ninth, take solace in the fact that there are many others out there who are also engaged in this battle. ..
Tenth, continue to learn more about the problem of reality denial and its consequences for democracy…
…The forces arrayed against the discovery of truth and the use of reason do not die, they wait. They are reborn into every age. It is like hammering mercury. They may disappear for a while, but eventually they gather.
We have been born into an age in which science and reason–indeed truth and reality itself–once again need defending. Embrace this. Don’t give in to despair. There is something you can do today to fight back against the truth killers.”
December 5, 2024
Short read packed with easily available sources and excellent citations. Very helpful in giving step by step instructions on how to deal with disinformation. This will be a book i pass around to my friends over the next four years.
February 11, 2025
(3.0 Stars)
This was very informative. While it offers a lot of great advice, it is already out of date. Don't get me wrong, the information is still relevant, but it is almost an "I told you so" at this point.
Everyone should read this to gain a little more insight of the news.
This was very informative. While it offers a lot of great advice, it is already out of date. Don't get me wrong, the information is still relevant, but it is almost an "I told you so" at this point.
Everyone should read this to gain a little more insight of the news.
August 28, 2023
Excellent. Should be required reading for Middle School students and onward.
September 3, 2023
McIntyre gives us a concise yet thorough accounting of today’s digital era and the weaponization of disinformation. At 60 pages, with about 15 pages of hyperlinked endnotes in the Nook version, this should accommodate even those with goldfish-like attention spans. McIntyre, a research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University, and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School, is also the author of How to Talk to a Science Denier (2021) and Post-Truth (2018). Standing up for Truth-with-a-capital-T is his calling, and it should be all of ours as well.
“Trump’s call to arms on January 6 was unsuccessful, in that it did not result in overturning a free and fair election; the insurrectionists were not able to get their hands on Mike Pence or Nancy Pelosi, and there was no coup. Yet in another sense, #StopTheSteal has been a ringing success . . . and it is far from over.
Sixty-six percent of Republican voters still think the 2020 election was stolen, and that Trump is the rightful president.
A stunning 147 republican members of Congress still refuse to publicly acknowledge that Joe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States.
Why do they believe these things?
Because Donald Trump wants them to (p. 22, Nook) (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc...).
This is an information war waged for nothing more than pure power, like authoritarians on the “left” and “right” have done for the past 100+ years. As McIntyre explains, modern information warfare began in Soviet Russia with Lenin’s Cheka group. Putin’s FSB, SVR, and GRU have been actively fueling the flames of disinformation to destabilize “Western” democracies” since the world-wide-web was opened, and the strategies involved go back to Big Tobacco on 15 December 1953, when the CEOs of the four largest US tobacco companies decided to “fight the science” on their carcinogens. This has evolved into the “Fox News Effect” (https://eml.berkeley.edu/~sdellavi/wp...) with everything they don’t like, plus climate denial, COVID vaccine denial, and Steve Bannon’s playbook, which the GOP has wholeheartedly adopted through a decades-long campaign of obfuscation and delay, confusion and doubt, lies and purposeful disinformation. Big Tobacco knew the risks of cancer in 1958, and the fossil fuel industry knew the effects of global warming in 1977. That’s how insidious and deep these complex dynamics go. “The genius of disinformation is that it doesn’t just get you to believe a falsehood, but to distrust (and sometimes even hate) anyone who does not also believe this same falsehood” (p. 21).
The playbook has three components, which McIntyre illustrates: the Creators (those who manufacture the lies for their personal gain), the Amplifiers (the means of getting the lies as widespread as possible), and the Believers (those ripe for accepting disinformation). Looking at statistics between 2014 and today, the number of people believing falsehoods (such as 9/11 being an “inside job”, or the COVID pandemic being a planned event) has grown thanks to the unregulated Internet, impotent political efforts, and massive for-profit social media sites profiting off endorphin bumps, ignorance, and rage.
McIntyre has a strategy for winning this war: “The truth does not die when liars take power; it dies when truth-tellers stop defending it. So let’s expose and name the truth killers. Reveal their tactics and their financial ties, and wake up as many of their believers as we can. Boycott social media companies and anyone else who is enabling them to carry out their dirty mission. Complain to your local cable operator. And, as my favorite bumper sticker from the 2020 election states, ‘Vote in numbers too big to manipulate'” (pp. 65-66).
For info on the big money behind the Big Lie, listen to Terri Gross interview Jane Mayer (https://www.npr.org/transcripts/10247...) on Fresh Air.
He believes that standing up for the Truth at every possible opportunity will help counter disinformation. He also believes emailing elected officials will push action, as well as writing to your local cable monopoly to reign in networks like Fox, OAN, and their ilk will help. I have my doubts about those options, but speaking the truth, loudly and often, supporting amplifiers for truth, and helping watchdog groups like Check My Ads (https://checkmyads.org/fox/) strip advertisers and enablers from such networks can certainly help. Obviously the ballot-box will matter most, and the GOP is attacking free and fair elections from every conceivable angle to suppress voting rights by all means possible.
Restoring the Fairness Doctrine for news outlets and revising Section 203 of the Communications Decency Act, thereby eliminating immunity to digital platforms for any content on their sites, would be incredibly beneficial. The Amplifiers are certainly the best way to cinch the conduits from Creator to Believer. How many people did the GOP, its cable media outlets, and websites like Facebook and Youtube kill because of COVID disinformation? Research has shown that only 12 Twitter accounts fueled the COVID anti-vaccination disinformation (which came from a Russian propaganda outlet), with one being former heroin addict Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Shutting down such Creators on their Amplifiers could have saved countless lives.
Remember, this is information warfare, and there is ALWAYS an objective truth to every single topic that can be supported by concrete facts. As McIntyre quotes Jonathan Foster, lecturer in journalism talking with a college class, “If someone says it’s raining and another person says it’s dry, it’s not your job to quote both of them. Your job is to look out of the f-ing window and find out which is true” (pp. 33-4). That job falls on ALL of us now. The US Army Cyber Institute created this Invisible Force: Information Warfare and the Future of Conflict graphic document to help (https://digitalcommons.usmalibrary.or...), and the NATO Defense College’s “The Handbook of Russian Information Warfare” (2018) is available too (https://www.ndc.nato.int/news/news.ph...), to precisely see what these strategies are. I’ll include a short list of other books to seek out at the end of this.
McIntyre was interviewed by Andrew Keen for the LitHub podcast KeenOn on 24 AUG 2023 (https://lithub.com/lee-mcintyre-on-fi...) and it’s a very engaging conversation. Keen tends to play the arrogant Brit who offers both-sides-isms a lot, but with McIntyre he seems to concede that the GOP has become a quasi-fascist regime now, and the truth is worth fighting for.
“Once the truth dies, the end may come swiftly for American Democracy. Like Russia and China, we’ll still have politicians in suits going about a charade of the people’s business in the halls of government, we may even have further elections, but it won’t really matter. If the truth-killers succeed in using denial to undermine democracy, the next day we’ll wake up in an electoral dictatorship” (p. 12).
It’s not easy tying to talk sense to those in denial of truths, as McIntyre has experienced with his book How to Talk to a Science Denier. Emotions, values, biases, and identities shield too many from the truth. The Greater Good Science Center has a host of articles here to help us acquire the patience, calmness, and communication skills to help our fellow Americans (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/arti...) our of their echo chambers and cult-like tribalism, but again, it is never an easy path.
Truly the best tactic we have left is to vote in numbers too big to manipulate. Next year will likely decide our collective fate for a very long time. What role will you play?
Playlist:
Angelus Apitrida “The Age of Disinformation” from 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiERM...)
One Minute Silence’s “Fruit From the Lie” from 2013 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDdbw...)
Tankard’s “Arena of the True Lies” from 2017 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXto4...)
Armageddon Time’s “Foxed in the Head” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uKHB...)
Kreator’s “People of the Lie” from 1990 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYzSN...)
Flattened Earth’s “The Glorious LARP” from 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oS4t...)
Exodus’s “Clickbait” from 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0Tuq...)
False Witness’s “Truth Dies With a Severed Tongue” from 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_tGl...)
Further Reading:
Naomi Orestes and Eric Conway “Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming” (2010)
Timothy Synder “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” (2017)
Yochai Bencher, Robert Faris, and Hal Robert’s “Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation and Radicalization in American Politics” (2018)
Thomas Rid’s “Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare” (2020)
David Pepper “Laboratories of Autocracy” (2021)
“Trump’s call to arms on January 6 was unsuccessful, in that it did not result in overturning a free and fair election; the insurrectionists were not able to get their hands on Mike Pence or Nancy Pelosi, and there was no coup. Yet in another sense, #StopTheSteal has been a ringing success . . . and it is far from over.
Sixty-six percent of Republican voters still think the 2020 election was stolen, and that Trump is the rightful president.
A stunning 147 republican members of Congress still refuse to publicly acknowledge that Joe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States.
Why do they believe these things?
Because Donald Trump wants them to (p. 22, Nook) (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc...).
This is an information war waged for nothing more than pure power, like authoritarians on the “left” and “right” have done for the past 100+ years. As McIntyre explains, modern information warfare began in Soviet Russia with Lenin’s Cheka group. Putin’s FSB, SVR, and GRU have been actively fueling the flames of disinformation to destabilize “Western” democracies” since the world-wide-web was opened, and the strategies involved go back to Big Tobacco on 15 December 1953, when the CEOs of the four largest US tobacco companies decided to “fight the science” on their carcinogens. This has evolved into the “Fox News Effect” (https://eml.berkeley.edu/~sdellavi/wp...) with everything they don’t like, plus climate denial, COVID vaccine denial, and Steve Bannon’s playbook, which the GOP has wholeheartedly adopted through a decades-long campaign of obfuscation and delay, confusion and doubt, lies and purposeful disinformation. Big Tobacco knew the risks of cancer in 1958, and the fossil fuel industry knew the effects of global warming in 1977. That’s how insidious and deep these complex dynamics go. “The genius of disinformation is that it doesn’t just get you to believe a falsehood, but to distrust (and sometimes even hate) anyone who does not also believe this same falsehood” (p. 21).
The playbook has three components, which McIntyre illustrates: the Creators (those who manufacture the lies for their personal gain), the Amplifiers (the means of getting the lies as widespread as possible), and the Believers (those ripe for accepting disinformation). Looking at statistics between 2014 and today, the number of people believing falsehoods (such as 9/11 being an “inside job”, or the COVID pandemic being a planned event) has grown thanks to the unregulated Internet, impotent political efforts, and massive for-profit social media sites profiting off endorphin bumps, ignorance, and rage.
McIntyre has a strategy for winning this war: “The truth does not die when liars take power; it dies when truth-tellers stop defending it. So let’s expose and name the truth killers. Reveal their tactics and their financial ties, and wake up as many of their believers as we can. Boycott social media companies and anyone else who is enabling them to carry out their dirty mission. Complain to your local cable operator. And, as my favorite bumper sticker from the 2020 election states, ‘Vote in numbers too big to manipulate'” (pp. 65-66).
For info on the big money behind the Big Lie, listen to Terri Gross interview Jane Mayer (https://www.npr.org/transcripts/10247...) on Fresh Air.
He believes that standing up for the Truth at every possible opportunity will help counter disinformation. He also believes emailing elected officials will push action, as well as writing to your local cable monopoly to reign in networks like Fox, OAN, and their ilk will help. I have my doubts about those options, but speaking the truth, loudly and often, supporting amplifiers for truth, and helping watchdog groups like Check My Ads (https://checkmyads.org/fox/) strip advertisers and enablers from such networks can certainly help. Obviously the ballot-box will matter most, and the GOP is attacking free and fair elections from every conceivable angle to suppress voting rights by all means possible.
Restoring the Fairness Doctrine for news outlets and revising Section 203 of the Communications Decency Act, thereby eliminating immunity to digital platforms for any content on their sites, would be incredibly beneficial. The Amplifiers are certainly the best way to cinch the conduits from Creator to Believer. How many people did the GOP, its cable media outlets, and websites like Facebook and Youtube kill because of COVID disinformation? Research has shown that only 12 Twitter accounts fueled the COVID anti-vaccination disinformation (which came from a Russian propaganda outlet), with one being former heroin addict Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Shutting down such Creators on their Amplifiers could have saved countless lives.
Remember, this is information warfare, and there is ALWAYS an objective truth to every single topic that can be supported by concrete facts. As McIntyre quotes Jonathan Foster, lecturer in journalism talking with a college class, “If someone says it’s raining and another person says it’s dry, it’s not your job to quote both of them. Your job is to look out of the f-ing window and find out which is true” (pp. 33-4). That job falls on ALL of us now. The US Army Cyber Institute created this Invisible Force: Information Warfare and the Future of Conflict graphic document to help (https://digitalcommons.usmalibrary.or...), and the NATO Defense College’s “The Handbook of Russian Information Warfare” (2018) is available too (https://www.ndc.nato.int/news/news.ph...), to precisely see what these strategies are. I’ll include a short list of other books to seek out at the end of this.
McIntyre was interviewed by Andrew Keen for the LitHub podcast KeenOn on 24 AUG 2023 (https://lithub.com/lee-mcintyre-on-fi...) and it’s a very engaging conversation. Keen tends to play the arrogant Brit who offers both-sides-isms a lot, but with McIntyre he seems to concede that the GOP has become a quasi-fascist regime now, and the truth is worth fighting for.
“Once the truth dies, the end may come swiftly for American Democracy. Like Russia and China, we’ll still have politicians in suits going about a charade of the people’s business in the halls of government, we may even have further elections, but it won’t really matter. If the truth-killers succeed in using denial to undermine democracy, the next day we’ll wake up in an electoral dictatorship” (p. 12).
It’s not easy tying to talk sense to those in denial of truths, as McIntyre has experienced with his book How to Talk to a Science Denier. Emotions, values, biases, and identities shield too many from the truth. The Greater Good Science Center has a host of articles here to help us acquire the patience, calmness, and communication skills to help our fellow Americans (https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/arti...) our of their echo chambers and cult-like tribalism, but again, it is never an easy path.
Truly the best tactic we have left is to vote in numbers too big to manipulate. Next year will likely decide our collective fate for a very long time. What role will you play?
Playlist:
Angelus Apitrida “The Age of Disinformation” from 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiERM...)
One Minute Silence’s “Fruit From the Lie” from 2013 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDdbw...)
Tankard’s “Arena of the True Lies” from 2017 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXto4...)
Armageddon Time’s “Foxed in the Head” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uKHB...)
Kreator’s “People of the Lie” from 1990 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYzSN...)
Flattened Earth’s “The Glorious LARP” from 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oS4t...)
Exodus’s “Clickbait” from 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0Tuq...)
False Witness’s “Truth Dies With a Severed Tongue” from 2021 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_tGl...)
Further Reading:
Naomi Orestes and Eric Conway “Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming” (2010)
Timothy Synder “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” (2017)
Yochai Bencher, Robert Faris, and Hal Robert’s “Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation and Radicalization in American Politics” (2018)
Thomas Rid’s “Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare” (2020)
David Pepper “Laboratories of Autocracy” (2021)
December 31, 2024
An excellent pocket book for those struggling with our current political climate and feel dismayed, discouraged, and at a loss for what to do moving forward. The author provided a background on disinformation and laid out ideas on how to combat it at a grassroots level.
This book was published in 2023 and it was a bit depressing at times reading this after the 2024 election and thinking about how much worse this problem will become in 2025. That said, this was a little hopeful motivator for how to survive this upcoming administration.
This book was published in 2023 and it was a bit depressing at times reading this after the 2024 election and thinking about how much worse this problem will become in 2025. That said, this was a little hopeful motivator for how to survive this upcoming administration.
October 12, 2024
I love pocket sized books, especially the kind that are eye-opening, well cited and easy to digest. I thought McIntyre did a nice job describing complex concepts simply, using pertinent examples, and drawing revealing comparisons. I feel motivated to seek out and defend truth, as well as desirous to confront people who spread disinformation. Though not something the author speaks to specifically, I couldn’t help but think of the practice of truth killing among religious leaders.
July 9, 2024
This short and practical book is a good complement to Timothy Snyder's book On Tyranny, which McIntyre mentions as a source of inspiration. McIntyre provides a concise overview of the current disinformation landscape in America, the factors that enable it, and some thoughts on the actions we can take both individually and as a society to turn the tide is the disinformation war
July 20, 2024
very important book for all American citizens, especially during this time leading up the the election.
February 24, 2025
It’s crazy how important this book is, even though it’s so short. I’ve been re-reading all of Lee’s books lately and realized I never read this newer one from 2023. Lee’s a philosopher of science, and in this book, he explains the dangers of disinformation. More importantly, he explains why it’s such a problem and what we can do about it. I respect Lee because he cares about the truth and what he calls the “scientific attitude”, and I really hope a ton of people read this book.
April 18, 2025
Like “On Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder, this book is a great “field manual” on how to identify, engage with, and possibly curb the effects of disinformation. It has tangible steps to address this issue, but like everything, it takes each persons independent will to do something about it and enact change.
April 29, 2025
Little books like this are easily digestible and should be required reading for everyone.
April 30, 2025
Genuinely inspiring and enlightening. In a time where it’s all to easy to feel worn down and daunted by relentless disinformation (read: LIES), some of the burden feels lifted with this manifesto. Concise and to the point, On Disinformation will give you not only clarity, but solutions.
June 5, 2025
Decent, but almost out of date or too late for the specifics of some things he talks about. But that’s on me for taking a while to get to reading it
August 24, 2023
This is a small, pocket-sized book about 135 pages in length. When I first picked it up this afternoon, I could not put it down. The author pulls no punches in describing the war against disinformation we are currently in, as well as throughout the recent past. Without revealing any more details, I highly recommend every American on the side against the truth-killers read this book, take note of the author’s recommendations, and go to work to preserve our democracy.
September 3, 2023
The war on disinformation is extremely important and for me very worrisome. I Expected much more from this book then a tirade on the problems with current polarization and specifically Trump. I thought his summary was lacking In a meaningful way.
January 27, 2025
A short but fantastic book, published before the 2024 election, so its hope that a Trump re-election could be thwarted has not come to fruition. Sadly, the problems of disinformation and voter stupidity will be with us for the foreseeable future.
August 25, 2023
Here’s a fair question: If you believe that the California wildfires are caused by Jewish space lasers, or that COVID vaccines contain microchip tracking technology, is there any possible book or explanation that could convince you otherwise? Sometimes, people operate at such an appalling level of gullibility and flagrant stupidity that they are essentially beyond reach, and this, unfortunately, is what Lee McIntyre is up against in his latest book, On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy.
To begin with, McIntyre points out the crucial difference between misinformation and disinformation, the latter being entirely intentional. Producers of disinformation do so, not for the benefit of those who consume it, or even because they mistakenly believe it, but for their own economic, political, or ideological advantage.
To demonstrate this, McIntyre takes us back to 1953, when the connection between cigarette smoking and cancer was becoming clear. During this time, the public didn’t inherently “know” that smoking caused cancer; rather, specialists in the field had to first discover it through standard scientific protocols.
For those who know how science works, you’ll know that full consensus is never required (or in many cases, isn’t even possible). But this doesn’t stop one from asserting a scientific “fact” when the overwhelming amount of evidence supports it, even in the face of some vanishingly small amount of uncertainty.
If you’re scientifically illiterate, however, you won’t know this.
Well, the tobacco industry in 1953 took that last point to heart. They didn’t have to “prove” anything; rather, they simply had to create enough “uncertainty and doubt”—by hiring their own scientists to present “both sides of the debate”—to “get the public to question the truth about something that scientists didn’t really question”; namely, that smoking significantly increases one’s risk of developing cancer and other pathologies.
And it worked, because, according to public opinion polling at the time, no one seemed especially concerned about the health risks of smoking. Now, if this sounds eerily similar to the public’s skepticism toward evolution, climate change, and, more recently, COVID and vaccinations in general, it’s because those spreading disinformation on these topics used the exact same playbook. The tobacco companies set the standard and now shady politicians know exactly how to spread doubt about literally anything to an uneducated public that doesn’t know the first thing about scientific objectivity.
So, what can be done about this? It seems like, for every bullshit theory we can patiently refute, we’re presented with a hundred more. Or, in the words of Uriel Fanelli, “an idiot can create more bullshit than you could ever hope to refute.” It appears, then, to be a losing battle, especially since social media algorithms are primed to reward the sharing of politically charged nonsense.
It may seem hopeless, but there are, in fact, things we can do (and must do). As McIntyre skillfully conveys, we can (1) expose the faulty reasoning process by which idiots adopt their beliefs, rather than counter specific beliefs one at a time, (2) point out the underlying strategies that nefarious disinformation producers use to delude the public, (3) reveal the incentives that bad actors have for lying to the public, and (4) start penalizing news sources, social media platforms, and politicians for not more aggressively fighting against the spread of disinformation (especially in the name of free speech absolutism).
It’s a tall order, to say the least. But the alternative, to sit back and let charlatans define our reality for us, is even more unpalatable. So, if you find yourself caught in a web of conspiracy theories and being used as a useful idiot to spread embarrassingly foolish beliefs, read this book to understand the faulty thought processes by which you come to understand the world. And if you’re fed up with the level of stupidity you’re experiencing in your relations with others, read this book for practical strategies to help the victims of disinformation navigate their way back into the light of reality.
To begin with, McIntyre points out the crucial difference between misinformation and disinformation, the latter being entirely intentional. Producers of disinformation do so, not for the benefit of those who consume it, or even because they mistakenly believe it, but for their own economic, political, or ideological advantage.
To demonstrate this, McIntyre takes us back to 1953, when the connection between cigarette smoking and cancer was becoming clear. During this time, the public didn’t inherently “know” that smoking caused cancer; rather, specialists in the field had to first discover it through standard scientific protocols.
For those who know how science works, you’ll know that full consensus is never required (or in many cases, isn’t even possible). But this doesn’t stop one from asserting a scientific “fact” when the overwhelming amount of evidence supports it, even in the face of some vanishingly small amount of uncertainty.
If you’re scientifically illiterate, however, you won’t know this.
Well, the tobacco industry in 1953 took that last point to heart. They didn’t have to “prove” anything; rather, they simply had to create enough “uncertainty and doubt”—by hiring their own scientists to present “both sides of the debate”—to “get the public to question the truth about something that scientists didn’t really question”; namely, that smoking significantly increases one’s risk of developing cancer and other pathologies.
And it worked, because, according to public opinion polling at the time, no one seemed especially concerned about the health risks of smoking. Now, if this sounds eerily similar to the public’s skepticism toward evolution, climate change, and, more recently, COVID and vaccinations in general, it’s because those spreading disinformation on these topics used the exact same playbook. The tobacco companies set the standard and now shady politicians know exactly how to spread doubt about literally anything to an uneducated public that doesn’t know the first thing about scientific objectivity.
So, what can be done about this? It seems like, for every bullshit theory we can patiently refute, we’re presented with a hundred more. Or, in the words of Uriel Fanelli, “an idiot can create more bullshit than you could ever hope to refute.” It appears, then, to be a losing battle, especially since social media algorithms are primed to reward the sharing of politically charged nonsense.
It may seem hopeless, but there are, in fact, things we can do (and must do). As McIntyre skillfully conveys, we can (1) expose the faulty reasoning process by which idiots adopt their beliefs, rather than counter specific beliefs one at a time, (2) point out the underlying strategies that nefarious disinformation producers use to delude the public, (3) reveal the incentives that bad actors have for lying to the public, and (4) start penalizing news sources, social media platforms, and politicians for not more aggressively fighting against the spread of disinformation (especially in the name of free speech absolutism).
It’s a tall order, to say the least. But the alternative, to sit back and let charlatans define our reality for us, is even more unpalatable. So, if you find yourself caught in a web of conspiracy theories and being used as a useful idiot to spread embarrassingly foolish beliefs, read this book to understand the faulty thought processes by which you come to understand the world. And if you’re fed up with the level of stupidity you’re experiencing in your relations with others, read this book for practical strategies to help the victims of disinformation navigate their way back into the light of reality.
February 10, 2025
Audiobook.
The most humbling part of this book was being told that as much as I want to cut myself off from people that believe the MAGA lies and propaganda that is really not helpful and actually only makes things worse. So alas.... I need to find better ways of talking to people and re-humanize them as victims of disinformation instead of saying things like they belong to a cult and drink the Kool-Aid. I tried so many times before elections to have fact driven conversations with people but I was told I was blowing things out of proportion and that those things would never happen and I was brainwashed by the left. But here we are in 2025 and I hate that I was correct about Trump and I hate that I could not sway a single person that believed Trump was the best thing for our country that he really is not.
"Disinformation is the new censorship."
The post-truth playbook goes like this:
1. Attack the truth tellers.
2. Lie about anything and everything.
3. Manufacture disinformation.
4. Encourage distrust and polarization.
5. Create confusion and cynicism.
6. Then claim the truth is available only through the leader himself.
I found it fascinating, and disgusting, that this started in the 1950s with tobacco use and lung cancer correlation. Oh and global warming issues as well. Ugh.
"MAGA is not just a political movement, it is a good old fashioned denialist campaign."
Science deniers:
1. Cherry pick evidence.
2. Believe in conspiracy theories.
3. Engage in illogical reasoning.
4. Rely on fake experts and denigrate real experts.
5. have impossible expectations for what the other side must achieve.
"What began with a few tobacco executives at the plaza hotel culminated 70 years later on the steps of the US Capitol. Denialism has now become a political litmus test for the Republican party and its highest expression is MAGA."
Russian disinformation strategies adopted by Trump: firehouse of lies and whataboutism. Firehouse of lies- multiple and contradictory explanations. This is disorienting. Whataboutism- when your opponent begins to make too much sense you change the subject to something unrelated.
And the news media issues are not limited to Fox News and OAN. The author noted mainstream media is a part of the problem because of their confirmation bias. MSNBC is a problem too.
"The only people who were fully prepared to cover the Trump presidency properly were people who knew how authoritarian regimes work."
Media ratings and social media are also causing issues. I nearly cried at the examples of people dying from the information spread on social media. I have personally fallen victim to disinformation/misinformation online and I try my best to fact check information and try to find the information from multiple sources. I wish other people tried to fact check information before sharing it.
I would love if this book could be written in a way that it felt like it was against "the Left" because the people I know that support Trump would see this book as anti-Trump propaganda even though it calls out both sides. What can be done to right the wrongs that are currently going on in the US Government? How do we get people to acknowledge the lies from both sides of the aisle and work together for truth and not personal gain? Is it too late to save democracy?
I just want truthful information is that too much to ask? It is exhausting trying to fact check things. Oh... it would be super cool to give the scientists the social media algorithms to study but I don't see that happening in my lifetime.
The most humbling part of this book was being told that as much as I want to cut myself off from people that believe the MAGA lies and propaganda that is really not helpful and actually only makes things worse. So alas.... I need to find better ways of talking to people and re-humanize them as victims of disinformation instead of saying things like they belong to a cult and drink the Kool-Aid. I tried so many times before elections to have fact driven conversations with people but I was told I was blowing things out of proportion and that those things would never happen and I was brainwashed by the left. But here we are in 2025 and I hate that I was correct about Trump and I hate that I could not sway a single person that believed Trump was the best thing for our country that he really is not.
"Disinformation is the new censorship."
The post-truth playbook goes like this:
1. Attack the truth tellers.
2. Lie about anything and everything.
3. Manufacture disinformation.
4. Encourage distrust and polarization.
5. Create confusion and cynicism.
6. Then claim the truth is available only through the leader himself.
I found it fascinating, and disgusting, that this started in the 1950s with tobacco use and lung cancer correlation. Oh and global warming issues as well. Ugh.
"MAGA is not just a political movement, it is a good old fashioned denialist campaign."
Science deniers:
1. Cherry pick evidence.
2. Believe in conspiracy theories.
3. Engage in illogical reasoning.
4. Rely on fake experts and denigrate real experts.
5. have impossible expectations for what the other side must achieve.
"What began with a few tobacco executives at the plaza hotel culminated 70 years later on the steps of the US Capitol. Denialism has now become a political litmus test for the Republican party and its highest expression is MAGA."
Russian disinformation strategies adopted by Trump: firehouse of lies and whataboutism. Firehouse of lies- multiple and contradictory explanations. This is disorienting. Whataboutism- when your opponent begins to make too much sense you change the subject to something unrelated.
And the news media issues are not limited to Fox News and OAN. The author noted mainstream media is a part of the problem because of their confirmation bias. MSNBC is a problem too.
"The only people who were fully prepared to cover the Trump presidency properly were people who knew how authoritarian regimes work."
Media ratings and social media are also causing issues. I nearly cried at the examples of people dying from the information spread on social media. I have personally fallen victim to disinformation/misinformation online and I try my best to fact check information and try to find the information from multiple sources. I wish other people tried to fact check information before sharing it.
I would love if this book could be written in a way that it felt like it was against "the Left" because the people I know that support Trump would see this book as anti-Trump propaganda even though it calls out both sides. What can be done to right the wrongs that are currently going on in the US Government? How do we get people to acknowledge the lies from both sides of the aisle and work together for truth and not personal gain? Is it too late to save democracy?
I just want truthful information is that too much to ask? It is exhausting trying to fact check things. Oh... it would be super cool to give the scientists the social media algorithms to study but I don't see that happening in my lifetime.
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