A pattern of misinformation: Hype the story for months only to quietly retract it after the political gain & social damage takes effect. The government & benefiting organizations will not give up the power granted to it by "temporary" or "emergency" measures during this period of public belief in the misinformation. There may be a "fall guy" if the subsequent public outrage is strong enough. Anybody identifying broader patterns & illicit behavior by authorities & organizations will be labeled a "conspiracy theorist" & ridiculed by the usual suspects.

On sites like Hacker News, the post will be flagged due to it's "politically sensitive" content & not stoking "intellectual curiosity", even though it is interesting & useful knowledge to understand markets, government behavior, where society is going, etc.

I'm not saying that this pattern is being applied today...but it is a security vulnerability that could be easily exploited in our Democratic & public information systems.