Participatory Disinfotainment: When Lies Are Interesting and Truth Is Boring
The entertainment value of falsehoods transforms passive consumers of information into active co-creators and spreaders of disinformation.
Participatory Disinfotainment1 involves creating false narratives that are emotionally engaging or entertaining—so much so that we amplify them, even if we know they’re wrong, drawing people into engaging them further. Here’s what I mean.
We know that news outlets increasingly operate as infotainment. At the same time, we know that media venues also operate as channels of disinformation. Online audiences actively spread these stories, adding their own twists. Social media platforms amplify these narratives, fueling distrust and creating alternative counterpublics.2 In a world where attention is currency, a dangerous alchemy of infotainment and disinformation has taken center stage, warping our understanding of truth and threatening the very foundations of democratic discourse.
What I see as crucial to these practices is this: Not only do people create and consume false-yet-compelling narratives that draw in eager believers, but also we find it entertaining to engage with disinformation, even when it is outrageous. Just this past week, I was talking with an adult group on campus about conspiracy theories, and one woman said, “I LOVE talking about conspiracy theories.” I asked if she believed them, and right away she said, “Yes, I do—” before realizing what she was admitting to everyone out loud.
In many ways, this post is a continuation of my recent post titled, “Freemium Politics: More Authentic, More Tribal. Here, I highlight how the digital age has blurred the lines between information and entertainment, creating a fertile ground for this toxic blend to take root and flourish. Bad actors take advantage of digital platforms to intentionally spread misinformation. Taking these together, it is now important that we recognize that participatory disinfotainment is more than just fake news; it is fake news on steroids, amplified by an army of delighted accomplices, and spread by engaged audiences of all sorts—regardless of their level of actual agreement or disagreement.
Key Insight: Participatory disinfotainment thrives on the entertainment value of falsehoods, transforming passive consumers of information into active co-creators and spreaders of disinformation.
The Participatory Element
We are accustomed to thinking of predatory misinformation, false advertising and fake truths that manipulate us for our money or our votes. Yet, the participatory element, fueled by social media dynamics and cognitive biases, is what sets this phenomenon apart from traditional forms of misinformation. Driven by a potent cocktail of compelling belief, the desire for attention, or simply the human need to belong, individuals happily become agents of disinformation, passing along false narratives with each share, like, and comment.
There is something to be said about the dopamine rush associated with likes and shares that further reinforces our amplification of false and provocative narratives, creating a feedback loop of misinformation where warnings to exercise critical thinking can be sacrificed at the altar of social validation. Social media platforms, with their algorithms designed to maximize engagement, become accomplices, pushing content that generates strong reactions regardless of its veracity to an entertainment-eager audience. Marshall McLuhan's assertion that "the medium is the message" takes on new significance in this context, highlighting how the very structure of social media platforms facilitates the spread of participatory disinfotainment.
Aristotle observed humans to be driven by an innate desire for knowledge. However, in the age of participatory disinfotainment, Aristotle’s emphasis on the emotional appeal of engaging narratives must also be accentuated. These often trump the logical assessment of information, leading individuals down a rabbit hole of falsehoods. This resonates with Walter Lippmann who argued that most people's understanding of the world is based on "pictures in their heads" rather than direct experience. In the context of participatory disinfotainment, these mental pictures are increasingly shaped by interesting, yet false, narratives routinely spread through social media.
The Allure of Entertainment
Hannah Arendt warned that the disintegration of truth as a concept can lead to widespread cynicism and a refusal to believe in established facts, a phenomenon that is all too evident in the age of participatory disinfotainment. Yet, my focus here on the allure of entertainment adds that established facts are bypassed simply because the truth is too often considered to be boring.
In Disaster Nationalism, Richard Seymour takes a moment to discuss QAnon in this light, saying:
“…what exactly is so compulsive about it? Its core claims, that the world is ruled by a Satanic cabal of communist pedophiles, that Donald Trump is leading a campaign by the good guys' in power to oust the cabal, and that the latter are always tantalisingly on the brink of a final bloody victory in which Trump will be installed by the military as president-for-life, might look to the uninitiated like garish entertainment rather than the eclectic millenarian religion that it is. Yet it has not only recruited millions of believers, but utterly upended their lives…”
It is the "tainment" aspect of disinfotainment that plays a crucial role in its insidious effectiveness. These narratives are meticulously crafted to be engaging, shocking, or emotionally resonant, tapping into our deepest fears, hopes, and biases. They offer a quick and easy way to feel informed, engaged, and part of a community. In this digital spectacle, the pursuit of truth is often eclipsed by the allure of entertainment, a phenomenon that Neil Postman, in his famously prescient critique of media and technology, Amusing Ourselves to Death, warned about.
Theodor Adorno's critique of the culture industry (alongside Max Horkheimer) also applies here, warning that mass media and popular culture serve to pacify the public and reinforce existing power structures. The entertainment aspect of participatory disinfotainment, which often prioritizes shock value and emotional appeal over critical thinking, aligns with Adorno, Horkheimer, and their colleague's concerns about the dumbing down of public discourse and the erosion of individual autonomy.
Take, for example, Jürgen Habermas's theory of the public sphere. Although he is well aware of irrationality and falsehood as well as the challenges of human beings to foster shared meanings based on reliable evidence, he still envisions a space where citizens could engage in rational debate to form public opinion. However, the current landscape of participatory disinfotainment discourages tedious exchanges and clarification of mere information. The emphasis of so much disinformation on emotional appeal and entertainment value over factual accuracy represents a significant departure from pursuit of a more deliberative, rational ideal for political discourse. I think most people today now accept that the very possibility of rational debate and consensus-building has been radically undermined.
The element of entertainment, which draws in the active work of engaging with the material, is different from the depiction of false news by George Orwell in 1984. In that text, the manipulation of disinformation was a diligent and dutiful act of an oppressive government. In comparison, what we see today occurs through the efforts of dedicated content managers and creators (aided by algorithms) as well as leisurely clicking and thumbing doom scrollers who comment and repost.
Epistemic Enclaves and Truther Communities
It is helpful to recognize the role of epistemic enclaves. Epistemic enclaves are digital spaces where alternative realities flourish, often in opposition to established facts and institutions. Among disinformation adherents, “truther communities” reinforce false beliefs and effectively radicalize participants. A former QAnon believer is quoted by Seymour in his book, by saying, “from the inside it looked as if ‘everyone else was living in a dream world.’”
This dynamic leads to the formation of hostile counterpublics—digital spaces where alternative realities flourish. Epistemic enclaves are fueled by confirmation bias and groupthink but, more importantly, energize people within them in the very act of relaying, repeating, and retelling narratives to each other. Émile Durkheim's influential theory of collective consciousness in Elementary Forms of Religious Life explains this intensely visceral individual energizing as the result of shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes that are reinforced through shared activity—ritually practicing the enactment of “truths” while being in each other’s presence. Of course, mutual presence today can be mediated digitally.
In short, participatory disinfotainment, centered in amusing and entertaining false narratives, when widely shared and believed, create a form of collective consciousness that binds certain groups together, even though based on misinformation.
The implications of this phenomenon extend far beyond social media feeds; they strike at the heart of democratic discourse and decision-making. Whether we choose to engage on social media or strictly avoid it, an increasingly large segment of the population get nearly all of their news from influencers, supported by zealous audiences, who have cultivated their own epistemic enclaves, leading these digitally-based communities to operate on fundamentally different sets of "facts." Writing about QAnon, Seymour notes that not only has there likely been more than one “Q,” the effectiveness of Q message-prophecies spreading so widely happens due to the intensive efforts of dedicated evangelists and entrepreneurs.
Because of the seduction, spread, and “stickiness” of these epistemic enclaves, participatory disinfotainment infiltrates every facet of our lives, from political elections to public health crises to international relations and impacting the funding and faithful application of academic research. The erosion of trust in traditional institutions and media outlets creates a vacuum that is readily filled by engaging, yet false, narratives, leaving us grappling with a fragmented public sphere where the pursuit of a shared reality is an increasingly elusive goal.
Michel Foucault's concept of "regimes of truth" highlights that what society accepts as truth is a product of existing power structures. Even more, those who gain platforms of power can unscrupulously formulate and codify even more “truths” to further buttress their platforms. As our current political atmosphere demonstrates, in the context of participatory disinfotainment, certain narratives gain traction, not because of their factual basis, but because they align with existing power structures and their accompanying ideological frameworks.
Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony also describes how dominant groups maintain their power through the creation and maintenance of a shared worldview that serves their interests. In participatory disinfotainment, certain narratives, often aligned with particular political or ideological interests, gain traction and become accepted as "common sense" through widespread participation and sharing—although the commonness of common sense falters beyond the bounds of one’s epistemic enclave.
Soliciting participation by pushing attention to disinfotainment is built into the design of our media landscape. Profit-driven media channels, now oriented around the freemium business model, are dependent on powerful algorithms that promote strong emotional reactions, without concern for factual accuracy or social impact. That means that while initial content may be dependent on human creation, digital platforms generate viral disinformation simply fulfilling their digital codes and multiplying profit-maximizing attention, bringing more eyeballs and more engagement for broader publics automatically.
The partisan divide in perceptions of disinformation, fueled by political polarization and ideological echo chambers, will likely widen, making it even more challenging to find common ground and develop effective solutions. Jean Baudrillard's concept of hyperreality becomes relevant here, describing a world where the distinction between reality and simulation becomes blurred, leading to a hyperreal world where representations become more "real" than the reality they supposedly represent. Participatory disinfotainment exemplifies this phenomenon, as engaging false narratives often overshadow and replace factual accounts in the public consciousness.
Overview: Key Premises of “Participatory Disinformation”
To further the discussion, below is a draft list of key premises behind this concept.
**Participatory disinfotainment** involves creating **false narratives** that are emotionally engaging or entertaining, with online audiences actively spreading these stories and adding their own twists.
**Social media platforms** amplify these narratives, fueling **distrust** and creating alternative **counterpublics**, which warps our understanding of truth and threatens the foundations of **democratic discourse**.
This phenomenon is more than just fake news; it transforms passive consumers into **active co-creators** and spreaders of disinformation, thriving on the **entertainment value** of falsehoods.
The **participatory element**, driven by social media dynamics and cognitive biases, sets participatory disinfotainment apart from traditional misinformation, as individuals willilngly amplify false narratives through engagement.
**Emotional appeal** often trumps logical, rational, or otherwise critical assessment of information, leading individuals to engage with misleading narratives shaped by their mental images rather than direct experiences.
The "tainment" aspect plays a crucial role, with narratives crafted to be engaging, shocking, or emotionally resonant, tapping into our deepest fears and biases, perhaps even longstanding myths.
The pursuit of truth is eclipsed by the allure of entertainment, a phenomenon warned about by Neil Postman who criticized the impact of media on public discourse.
The feedback loop created by social media algorithms maximizes engagement but sacrifices critical thinking, pushing content that generates strong reactions regardless of its truthfulness.
**Epistemic enclaves** energize people in the very act of relaying, repeating, and retelling narratives to each other, cementing bonds regardless of the actual truth value of their shared convictions, reinforcing Emile Durkheim’s assertions regarding collective consciousness arising from participation in shared rituals.
Participatory disinfotainment infiltrates everyday life whether we participate in social media platforms or not, from political elections to public health crises, eroding trust in traditional institutions and creating a fragmented public sphere.
Those with leverage over platforms that buttress their power can unscrupulously formulate and codify even more “truths” to expand their platforms, whether for money or votes.
In the future, participatory disinfotainment will become even more accessible and sophisticated with the adoption of interactive media by more companies in more products and the rise of technologies like deepfakes, making it harder to discern fact from fiction in an increasingly polarized environment.
The social psychological impact includes cognitive dissonance from conflicting information exposure, leading to anxiety and isolation while nudging people to adopt particular epistemic enclaves as oases of truth and belonging.
Bottom Line: The allure of participatory disinfotainment lies in its entertainment value; recognizing this seductive nature can help reclaim a commitment to truth.
The Problem Includes All of Us
The insidious nature of participatory disinfotainment lies in its entertainment value. We are drawn to the sensational, the shocking, and the absurd. The thrill of sharing a juicy rumor, the satisfaction of debunking a conspiracy theory, or simply the pleasure of feeling part of an exclusive in-group—these are the rewards that keep us engaged in the cycle of disinformation.
The social psychological impact of participatory disinfotainment is profound. The constant exposure to misinformation can lead to cognitive dissonance, where individuals struggle to reconcile conflicting information. This can lead to a range of negative outcomes, including increased anxiety, depression, and feelings of isolation. In addition, the erosion of trust in institutions and experts can lead to a decline in civic engagement and a weakening of democratic norms.
In the coming years, the lines between truth and fiction will continue to blur, as participatory disinfotainment becomes even more sophisticated and pervasive. The rise of deepfakes and other AI-generated content will make it increasingly difficult to discern fact from fiction, further fueling the spread of misinformation. As Zygmunt Bauman observed, we live in an era of "liquid modernity," characterized by constant change and uncertainty. This fluid environment provides fertile ground for the spread of disinformation, as people seek simple explanations and narratives to make sense of a complex and rapidly changing world. With continued opportunities for uncertainty, profit motives will factor into a variety of strong interests to maintain lucrative venues of disnfotainment.
Of course, the very individuals and institutions taking responsibility for combating disinformation (including journalists, college professors, community activists, policy analysts, medical researchers, and more) will increasingly find themselves targets of disinformation campaigns, backed by funding and/or political power, further eroding public trust and hindering efforts to address the problem.
By recognizing the seductive allure of misinformation, we might begin to loosen its grip, escape erroneous epistemic enclaves, and reclaim our collective commitment to better truth. At the very least, we must be aware that disinformation is often entertaining—sucking us all into its epistemological vortex.
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Reading Richard Seymour‘s Disaster Nationalism, I found two words he put together that caught my attention, participatory disinfotainment. It fed my thinking, and I took time to lift out the term and build it into a more robust concept. Although the term is not developed, it is italicized and listed in the book’s index. See page 71 in Richard Seymour. 2024. Disaster Nationalism: The Downfall of Liberal Civilization. London and New York: Verso.