New guide for councillors on disinformation
When does misinformation – false information shared without intent to mislead – become disinformation, where it is deliberately shared with the intent to deceive?
Many councillors view disinformation as a serious and growing challenge to their roles, including their work in representing their communities and deciding political priorities.
Disinformation can also harm local government’s ability to deliver vital services.
It might mislead the public about public health measures, create rumours to disrupt council meetings, spread false narratives that radicalise individuals, target elected officials with fabricated claims, or incite violence and criminal damage.
In extreme cases, disinformation can be a criminal offence. The Online Safety Act 2023 has introduced a false communications offence, which occurs when an individual conveys information online that they know to be false, with the intention of causing non-trivial psychological or physical harm to a likely audience.
In response to interest from councillors seeking support in approaching and countering disinformation, the LGA has recently published new guidance.
This sets out key definitions, provides practical tools and examples, and supports informed decision-making – recognising that responses will vary depending on circumstances.
It is important, when discussing disinformation, to emphasise the ‘information’ aspect of it. For example, calling somebody ‘left-wing’ or ‘right-wing’ is open to opinion and interpretation.
However, stating that somebody is a member of a specific organisation, when they are not, would be disinformation.
The threat lies not only in individual false claims, damaging as these can be, but also in the cumulative effect of repeated examples. Over time, these reinforce harmful narratives about specific communities and erode trust in democratic institutions and processes.
The guidance suggests in the first instance that councillors contact their local authority’s communications or community safety teams, where they have concerns about disinformation.
Officers may already be responding corporately to the issue and can advise on how best to approach it.
Officers can also provide access to other helpful services when encountering disinformation online. Most will have established a protocol – including dos and don’ts – for using social media, and will also offer training for councillors.
Some teams will also use social listening platforms, which enable them to monitor conversations about issues across different social media accounts. This is helpful for determining whether instances of disinformation are isolated or something more widespread and potentially serious.
Sometimes, especially with fringe, low-visibility content, ignoring it is the best policy – a councillor commenting on a post could boost its reach and amplify disinformation.
However, where the issue is serious, the guidance sets out different techniques for challenging disinformation.
These include asserting the truth, fact checking and debunking; building networks by collaborating with community leaders, interest groups, journalists, and researchers to generate credibility with audiences; developing counter-narratives; and building resilience by working with officers to create information programmes designed to increase the ability of target audiences to critically engage with false or manipulated information.
As the experts on their local communities, councillors can play a key role in this space, especially when it comes to your constituents. This can be when you are doorstepping, at surgeries or simply whenever interacting with your residents.
But if disinformation about you makes you feel unsafe or at risk, contact your community safety team and/or local police immediately.
- ‘A guide to disinformation for councillors’ is available free on the LGA’s website, alongside parallel guidance for officers – ‘A guide to disinformation affecting local authorities and their communities’. The LGA also provides a range of guidance and tools to support councillors and candidates in their online communications.