People often assume that public figures who spread false information are just “liars.” Still, I think it’s more accurate and useful to realize there are at least five distinct and important types of misinformation spreaders:
1) Narcissistic deceivers: they don’t track or even consider whether what they are saying is true; they say what feels good to them. This relates to what philosophers call “bullshitting” (as opposed to “lying”).
Some well-known politicians fall into this camp.
2) Psychopathic deceivers: they know they are saying false things but don’t care and are just saying whatever best serves their own agenda. They don’t experience guilt about lying.
Some popular media personalities fall into this camp.
3) Motivated deceivers: they know they are lying and feel bad about it (when they think about it), but they think it’s worth lying because the cause is too important or there is too much to be lost if they don’t lie, or there’s something important to them to gain by lying.
Some leaders of organizations fall into this camp.
4) Delusional deceivers: they have lost touch with reality, usually due to mental health problems (such as psychosis) or extremely heavy drug use. They are often paranoid.
Some famous authors fall into this camp.
5) Believing deceivers: they’ve been convinced of false information through propaganda, idealism, cognitive dissonance, trusting unreliable sources, or social forces/pressures and genuinely believe it’s the truth. They aren’t delusional or evil, just (potentially very) misled.
Many people on all political sides are like this. This is, in my view, by far the most common reason individuals spread misinformation, though it may not be the most common reason that public figures spread misinformation.
Whether you are working to combat misinformation or just trying to understand it, it’s useful to know what you’re dealing with. Spreaders of misinformation come in very different forms and have very different reasons for doing so.
This piece was first written on March 22, 2025, and first appeared on my website on April 22, 2025.
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