Please find USAID's first edition of the Disinformation Primer, which the DRG Center has compiled to present an overview of "disinformation culture" -- including key concepts and terminology, case studies, and programmatic design options.
The Primer's introduction notes that disinformation isn't a new phenomenon. Rather it has a storied history, inclusive of дезинформация (dezinformatsiya in Russian) which was used in Soviet statecraft in the 20th century, and had centuries of predecessors, before television and radio, and even before Guttenberg's printing press. However, social media is to be credited with the acceleration of the speed of its diffusion and broadening its reach geographically.
Scholars have called disinformation's ability to undermine democracy "a wicked problem," or equal to other complex challenges we face, such as climate and poverty. But we haven't given up hope -- at USAID -- we take wicked problems head-on, and we hope that the Primer can be the first step in educating ourselves so that we can make an impact in coming up with solutions.
