Disinformation is false or misleading information that is spread deliberately to deceive. This is a subset of misinformation, which may also be unintentional.

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The English word disinformation is a loan translation of the Russian dezinformatsiya, derived from the title of a KGB black propaganda department. Joseph Stalin coined the term, giving it a French-sounding name to claim it had a Western origin. Russian use began with a “special disinformation office” in 1923. Disinformation was defined in Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1952) as “false information with the intention to deceive public opinion”. Operation INFEKTION was a Soviet disinformation campaign to influence opinion that the U.S. invented AIDS. The U.S. did not actively counter disinformation until 1980, when a fake document reported that the U.S. supported apartheid.