Lies Are Fast, And Truth Is Slow
Why and how the spread of disinformation works
In 44 BCE, Octavian launched what historians now recognize as one of the first documented disinformation campaigns.
Through a series of calculated lies, he destroyed Mark Antony’s reputation among the Roman people. Octavian's propaganda efforts included the use of "short, sharp slogans written upon coins," effectively serving as ancient equivalents of modern sound bites or social media posts. These messages depicted Antony as a womanizer and a drunkard, suggesting he was unfit for leadership. These tactics mirror modern disinformation tactics.
While digital technology has transformed information, the mechanics of deception have remained the same. What we now call ‘disinformation’ represents the latest evolution of this practice.
At its core, disinformation is systematic lying with strategic intent. While all disinformation contains lies, not all lies qualify as disinformation. The key differentiator is organization and purpose.
However, the terrifying thing about all levels of deception, be it a lie or a disinformation operation, is the speed.
Lies spread quickly because they provoke strong emotions, grab attention, and exploit fears. Truth, on the other hand, takes time. It requires evidence, verification, and careful analysis. This imbalance allows disinformation to do damage before the truth has a chance to catch up.
This shows that the “disinformation problem” isn’t technological or recent. It has had previous names before, but its nature has endured.
Why Lies Are Fast and Truth Is Slow
Let’s look at why lies are often faster than the truth.
The First-Mover Effect: Information vacuums create powerful cognitive anchors. When news breaks or a story emerges, our minds form initial frameworks based on whatever information arrives first. This happens regardless of its accuracy. This psychological tendency gives false information a significant advantage, as verification requires time.
Cognitive psychology has taught us that initial exposure to information creates lasting cognitive frameworks. This makes it harder to revise beliefs later, making being first extremely important.
Studies of breaking news verification processes have demonstrated a consistent pattern. While unverified claims spread quickly across social networks, proper journalistic verification requires a systematic process. This process can take hours or even days, depending on the complexity of the story and availability of sources.
Systemic Amplification: Modern communication platforms function as acceleration chambers. This is where content gains momentum based on engagement rather than accuracy. These systems transform the first-mover effect into pervasive reach through automated promotion. It creates a compounding effect that current verification systems cannot match.
And honestly, probably won’t match.
Content recommendation systems and social media algorithms primarily target user engagement metrics in their design. These systems do not assess the accuracy of content. Instead, they amplify whatever content generates the most user interaction. This creates an environment where engaging but potentially false information gain huge visibility before fact-checkers can respond.
Emotional Engagement: The human brain processes emotional content faster than analytical information. This biological speed advantage is a bias due to the architecture of our brains. This biological bias means that, while truth requires slow cognitive processing, emotional triggers prompts immediate action.
Lies often trigger strong emotions like fear, anger, or hope. These heightened emotions prompts people to share them impulsively. Truth, by contrast, is more nuanced and unlikely to provoke such immediate reactions.
However, this effect isn’t limited to lies, as truthful content that evokes strong emotions can also spread rapidly. The difference is in how disinformation campaigns engineer content and network to maximize the intended impact.
Complexity Paradox: Lies are often oversimplified, making them easier to understand and repeat. Truth, however, is more often complex. This then requires it to apply more effort to comprehend and communicate effectively.
Disinformation leverages this difference. The most sophisticated operations often layer verifiable facts with subtle distortions, making them more credible to discerning audiences. However, people frequently distil these complex narratives into simpler, more shareable versions. This creates a dual nature where the same disinformation campaign can have both sophisticated ‘source material’ and simplified ‘viral versions’ circulating simultaneously.
The Speed Cycle: These mechanisms don’t just coexist. They reinforce each other, creating a self-perpetuating cycle where the ‘speed advantages’ compound. Each element accelerates others, forming a system that happens so quickly.
This sometimes is how virality is achieved.
Modern communication systems don’t inherently favor lies, but they do reward engagement. Now pair this with emotional engagement and the first mover effect, it is a winning formula.
Truth relies on verification, critical thinking, and evidence. However, in a fast-paced world, this careful process often loses the race against lies. It’s also part of the reason a proper investigation takes time.
Now what?
Look, we cannot simply fact-check our way out of this problem.
The very systems we've built to connect and inform now serve as accelerants for both truth and lies. Concerningly, the distinction between them often blurs in the chaos of modern information.
Some suggest making truth more 'engaging' or 'emotional' to compete with lies. But this misses the point entirely. The strength of truth has never been in its ability to go viral or trigger immediate emotional responses. Its power lies in its ability to withstand scrutiny, to build understanding, and to reveal genuine complexity.
Perhaps the most honest conclusion is that there is no easy fix. Disinformation, like its ancient predecessors, will continue to evolve. What we can do is understand it better. It’s not to make truth faster or more appealing, but to recognize why we're vulnerable to deception in the first place.
Truth isn't slow because it's failing. It's slow because it's doing something fundamentally different from deception.
And that difference matters.