The disinformation lifecycle: an integrated understanding of its creation, spread and effects

The proliferation and development of social media platforms in recent years has contributed significantly to the spread of disinformation. Police Authorities around Europe have observed that harmful or criminal behaviour, stemming from social unrest, hate speech, and violent disorder are regularly preceded by disinformation campaigns. This begs the question: How can practitioners be better prepared for the real-world consequences of malign disinformation activities and to potentially even mitigate any criminal consequences? The first step in properly countering disinformation is to enhance the understanding of the complex phenomenon. Therefore, this article puts forth a new theoretical framework, called the ‘C5 Interaction Model’, that explains the creation, spread and impact of disinformation, synthesising academic theory to provide practical guidance on disinformation dynamics. The multidisciplinary model represents a lifecycle and contains five main elements: Context, Causes, Content, Consequences, and Cycle of Amplification. They are each organised into two further layers of (sub)factors, which were developed to provide a comprehensive overview and breakdown of the important elements of disinformation. The C5 Interaction Model represents one of the first concerted efforts to bring diverse insights together into a comprehensive integrative framework. The complexity of the model shows that this process is non-liner and that there are a multitude of factors determining the lifecycle of disinformation, making it a highly complex phenomenon to research. A key contribution of this article is the focus on the interaction between different elements that influence the process of disinformation—from creation to consequences. Importantly, the lifecycle route is predominantly influenced by the social context in which it exists.