The pattern we tend to see is that it’s disinformation at the higher levels of distribution, but misinformation at the lower levels, like Facebook friends sharing health, politics, or racist propaganda between accounts.

There have been several write ups about how all of this works since the mid-2010s. One of the most fascinating and disturbing disinformation networks that I’ve ever ever seen is a 2020 analysis of the propaganda web network created by Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com by ISD:

https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020062...

To me, it looks like a foreign-influence operation intended to degrade and disrupt the exchange of free ideas in the US by injecting total nonsense into discussions about health and politics. A lot of Mike Adams’ disinformation is distributed as misinformation by unintended, and unwitting secondhand participants, like right-wing conservative blogs and pundits.

Edit: I forgot to mention that since this initial report came out in 2020, there’s been further revelations about how the NaturalNews network hired hackers to build their extensive network and help disseminate propaganda.

> Disinformation guru “Hacker X” names his employer: NaturalNews.com

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/disinformation-g...

> “Hacker X”—the American who built a pro-Trump fake news empire—unmasks himself

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/10/hacke...