Exaggerated claims of disinformation efficiency considered harmful

Promoting disinformation out of proportions can cause harm. But how so, after all, it informs about the issue? Well, without this information, perhaps  the disinformation content would not reach wider audiences at all. The propagandists would have failed....  

How to boost Russian propaganda?

The SDA, Disinformation Factory, employed over 100 staff. Between November 2023 and August 2024, its Doppelganger project produced 700+ fake websites, becoming one of Russia's largest disinformation factories. Leaked documents show forgery is central to Russia's strategy, echoing Soviet-era methods. Doppelganger's exposure in media, with 163 stories, inadvertently boosted its perceived impact. "Exposing digital disinformation products has become its own cottage industry. Dozens of nonprofit and for-profit outfits now focus on hunting for the next influence network to expose with as much fanfare as possible, no matter how insignificant the disinformation projects might be. But such surface-level downstream exposure no longer deters adversaries. In fact, it helps them get more funding". In other words: most disinformation/propaganda is insignificant (non-event), overhyping it might profit the propagandists, and some who voice it.

Now, what do we do about it? We wait for the next article/assessment debunking no0-impact narratives put to unpopular and unvisited blogs, sites, social media accounts with 3 followers, of course fact-checking any such worthless content?

Naturally, I recommend my book on the subject, where the conundrum is mentioned too.

Ask yourself a question: why amplify something that is irrelevant?