# Multimedia 

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Cato Video • June 26, 2025 

# Misinformation on Misinformation: Understanding Misinformation and Why It Is Incompatible with Government Solutions 

This policy analysis investigates the definitions, impact, and history of misinformation, finding that while interest and focus on misinformation has grown massively, it is still poorly defined and open to subjectivity and bias. The threat of misinformation, then, is misunderstood and overstated, and is similar to previously moral panics throughout history in which elite institutions fear greater expression by average people. The way forward is to renew our belief in free expression as the most powerful tool to discover truth, debate hard topics, and counter bad speech with good speech.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![David-Inserra-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-11/David-Inserra-cropped.jpg?itok=UVcZA19i)](/people/david-inserra) 

##### [David Inserra](/people/david-inserra)

Fellow for Free Expression and Technology, Cato Institute

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](https://x.com/dr_inserra) 

![Robby Soave](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-06/Robby-Soave-scaled.jpg?itok=xysKKU6G) 

##### Robby Soave 

Editor at *Reason,* Host of *Rising* on Hill TV