National security officials, Democratic politicians and media personalities often cite the dreaded scourge of disinformation as one of their top concerns. Mainstream news organizations are constantly warning their readers and viewers that right-wing provocateurs, Republican politicians and foreign agents are flooding social media with lies. Technology regulators around the world — from Brazil to the European Union—use the threat of disinformation as a pretext for censorship. In the US, the First Amendment makes it much more difficult for would-be censors to outright criminalize disinformation, though that won’t stop politicians from trying; Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has already suggested— incorrect — that misinformation and hate speech are not protected speech.

This statement is itself an example of misinformation, in that it is a false statement; The Supreme Court has held strongly that hate speech, for example, is protected by the First Amendment. However, when mainstream Democrats express clearly incorrect statements, they rarely attract the label of disinformation. This speaks to the one-sidedness of the concept — a one-sidedness that was perfectly illustrated during a CNN panel on Sunday.

The topic of the panel, ironically, was disinformation. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was interviewing former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson about how malicious lies spread by right-wing actors are eroding trust in US democracy. Blitzer invited several participants to respond. Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist, chimed in with a comment about former President Donald Trump.

“Let’s remember Charlottesville,” she said. “Let’s remember January 6. All those events ended in tragedy and all those events were spurred on and inspired by the words that came out of the former president’s mouth.”

CNN contributor Scott Jennings, a Republican, then interrupted Cardona to dispute that Trump’s rhetoric provoked the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one person was killed and a dozen others were injured by a white nationalist. Cardona doubled down, saying Trump “went out there and said both sides are good people.”

“I think he caused Charlottesville,” she said. “Those people who were marching were marching in support of one person. They marched in support of Donald Trump.”

While discussing misinformation, Maria Cardona says Donald Trump inspired Charlottesville by saying the oft-used and debunked “good people on both sides” line, which happened after Charlottesville anyway.

He then claims that Democratic leaders did not support the anti-Israel rallies. pic.twitter.com/KytdgVu4uD

— Jason Rantz at KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) November 4, 2024

These claims are blatantly wrong.

Most obviously: Trump’s rhetoric did not cause a group of white nationalists to hold a rally in Charlottesville. The controversy over Trump’s remarks has to do with the things he said in response at the rally.

And there, Trump’s critics have gone too far. Like the fact checking site Snopes has concludedTrump never said neo-Nazis were very good people — he said neo-Nazis and white nationalists “should be totally condemned.” The comment by “good people on both sides” referred to the debate over whether it was a good idea to remove statues of problematic historical figures. And indeed, reasonable people may disagree about the wisdom of removing laws, and about which historical figures deserve a new analysis.

It’s perfectly fine to disagree with Trump’s handling of the episode or to think his condemnations didn’t go far enough. But no serious person has suggested that Trump’s remarks fueled the racism and violence in Charlottesville in 2017. The rally was organized by white nationalists Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer to protest the impeachment of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. statue. Their efforts were not inspired by or in defense of Donald Trump.

At no point did Blitzer step in to accuse Cardona of spreading misinformation. The task of correcting it was left to co-panelist Jennings. Remember: this was a panel that ostensibly highlighted the toxic spread of misinformation.

This is the kind of blatantly false statement that the host would interrupt and correct in any other circumstance, especially if, say, the speaker was a Republican. (Though conservative panelist @ScottJenningsKY did an admirable job of clearing things up.)

— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) November 3, 2024

People spreading bad information, either accidentally or on purpose, is nothing new. It was happening on TV, radio, newspapers, books and everyday conversation long before there was social media. Commentators who fixate on platforms they don’t trust or partisan actors they don’t like often treat misinformation like a real disease pathogen, all while ignoring the falsehoods that emerge from them or treating them as mere differences of opinion.