Misinformation
The spreading of misinformation on social media has had a corrosive effect on our trust in institutions.
Unless you want to eliminate freedom of speech, there is no way to use the legal system to prevent misinformation spreading. The only way to counter its influence is to make it taboo.
While misinformation is consistently called out by the political opposition, it is often embraced by the side that it favors due to in-group bias. This needs to be taboo in modern culture, so that anyone who uses misinformation, or even suggests its use, becomes persona non grata to their now-former in-group, and cannot immediately find another home and income stream by joining the opposition.
Propaganda often takes the form of misinformation, but it can also contain true information that promotes a specific ideology. It is usually state-sponsored, but billionaire-sponsored capitalist propaganda has been become increasingly prevalent in recent years.
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." -Mark Twain
See Misinformation, Propaganda, and Propaganda Techniques on Wikipedia.
For more on bad information, see pseudoscience, quantum woo, grift, platforms, trolling, and algorithm.
Misinformation and Neokayfabe
The production methods for reality TV and professional wrestling have become the inspiration for modern political messaging and fandom. Kayfabe is the professional wrestling term for the way scripted events are portrayed as "real life," with a willing suspension of disbelief by the audience. Neokayfabe mixes scripted events with real ones, such as personal scandals and contract disputes, so the audience becomes captivated by the task of parsing the truth from the fiction, and the blurred lines trick many into believing again, even after the curtain has been pulled back.
Abraham Jodie Riesman draws some undeniable parallels between kayfabe and the way that it impacts modern information bubble and team sports based politics. [1][2][3] It is actually one of the best available models for understanding a form of politics that has deep roots in the professional wrestling and reality TV industry.
Conspirituality interview with Abraham Josie Reisman about "Neokayfabe"
Recognizing and Stopping Misinformation
If you see misinformation, the best policy is usually to ignore it, since any engagement you make tells the algorithm to spread it further. If your platform has a downvote, then downvote. If it has a community note, then note it. If someone else has already called out the misinformation in the comments, then don't add to it because that spreads the virus.