Data

DATA ON DISInformation, misinformation, conspiracy theories and media narratives

Please consider all data with scrutiny. We merely aggregate the data that is available, and while insights can be gathered here, we recognize that there may be flaws in both the collection and presentation of this data. Our hope is that through the support of people like you, we might improve on the data that is presented here, thereby increasing the reliability of this service.

Where do you get your information about news and current events?

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

Which of these have you personally used as a source for news in the last month? Data expressed in percentages.

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

Vaccines have been shown to cause autism. Data expressed in percentages.

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

Many top Democrats are involved in child sex-trafficking rings

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

Many top Republicans are involved in child sex-trafficking rings

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

The U.S. government is using the COVID-19 vaccine to microchip the population

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

Mass shootings have been faked by groups trying to promote stricter gun control laws

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

Voting machines were programmed to change votes in the 2020 election

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

How confident are you that you can tell real news from fake news?

[Resource 1] YouGov Survey: Conspiracy Theories November 9 - 13, 2023 - 1000 U.S. adult citizens. Data expressed in percentages.

Far-right vs. far-left acts of domestic violent extremism between 1990 and 2021

[Resource 1] Celinet Duran, “Far-Left Versus Far-Right Fatal Violence: An Empirical Assessment of the Prevalence of Ideologically Motivated Homicides in the United States,” Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society 22 no. 2 (2021): 33-49; Joshua D. Freilich et al., “Introducing the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB),” Terrorism and Political Violence 26 no. 2 (2014): 372-384; and William Parkin, Joshua D. Freilich, and Steven Chermak, “Did Far-Right Extremist Violence Really Spike in 2017?” The Conversation, January 4, 2018.

[Resource 2] Duran, “Far-Left Versus Far-Right Fatal Violence”; Freilich et al., “Introducing the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB)”; and Parkin, Freilich, and Chermak, “Did Far-Right Extremist Violence Really Spike in 2017?”

Misinformation total search results (i.e., the number of websites and search results that are returned when the keyword is searched for)

SERP data obtained from https://seo.ai/tools/keyword-search-volume & https://www.wordtracker.com/. Further funding of this service will go towards obtaining higher quality SERP data which is more refined and specific. It is worth noting here that these keyword terms are not all incompassing, and that there are many different ways one might search for any given topic. It is also worth noting that not everyone who searches for a given term will be a "believer" or "supporter". However, we believe this data at least highlights the amount of conversation and/or interest in the keywords mentioned above.

Misinformation keywords: Average monthly search volume (i.e., the average number of times the keyword was searched for within a given month)

SERP data obtained from https://seo.ai/tools/keyword-search-volume & https://www.wordtracker.com/. Further funding of this service will go towards obtaining higher quality SERP data which is more refined and specific. It is worth noting here that these keyword terms are not all incompassing, and that there are many different ways one might search for any given topic. It is also worth noting that not everyone who searches for a given term will be a "believer" or "supporter". However, we believe this data at least highlights the amount of conversation and/or interest in the keywords mentioned above.

Conspiracy theory total search results (i.e., the number of websites and search results that are returned when the keyword is searched for)

SERP data obtained from https://seo.ai/tools/keyword-search-volume & https://www.wordtracker.com/. Further funding of this service will go towards obtaining higher quality SERP data which is more refined and specific. It is worth noting here that these keyword terms are not all incompassing, and that there are many different ways one might search for any given topic. It is also worth noting that not everyone who searches for a given term will be a "believer" or "supporter". However, we believe this data at least highlights the amount of conversation and/or interest in the keywords mentioned above.

Conspiracy theory keywords: Average monthly search volume (i.e., the number of websites and search results that are returned when the keyword is searched for within a given month)

SERP data obtained from https://seo.ai/tools/keyword-search-volume & https://www.wordtracker.com/. Further funding of this service will go towards obtaining higher quality SERP data which is more refined and specific. It is worth noting here that these keyword terms are not all incompassing, and that there are many different ways one might search for any given topic. It is also worth noting that not everyone who searches for a given term will be a "believer" or "supporter". However, we believe this data at least highlights the amount of conversation and/or interest in the keywords mentioned above.

Usage of Social Media Platform by U.S. Extremists, 2005 - 2016

[Resource 1]: The Use of Social Media by United States Extremists. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_PIRUS_UseOfSocialMediaByUSExtremists_ResearchBrief_July2018.pdf. Data expressed in percentages.

Social Media Activities by Extremists, 2005 - 2016

[Resource 1]: The Use of Social Media by United States Extremists. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_PIRUS_UseOfSocialMediaByUSExtremists_ResearchBrief_July2018.pdf. Data expressed in percentages.

Incidents Involving the distribution of white supremisist propoganda from 2017 to 2020

[Resource 1]: White Supremacist Propaganda Spikes in 2020. Anti-Defamation League https://www.adl.org/resources/report/white-supremacist-propaganda-spikes-2020. Data expressed in number of incidents.

Terrorist Attacks and Plots by Ideology
Terrorist Attacks and Plots by Ideology

[Resource 1] https://www.csis.org/analysis/pushed-extremes-domestic-terrorism-amid-polarization-and-protest