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Is it still wrong to spread misinformation even if it's only to troll people rather than harming them?

Last Updated: 21.06.2025 00:22

Is it still wrong to spread misinformation even if it's only to troll people rather than harming them?

Absolutely.

The legendary Franklin Veaux often asks questions about “NOFAP”, the belief that not masturbating will turn you into Superman (or something). As he keeps pointing out, the whole thing was a joke that was posted on 4chan or reddit (I forget which).

Now, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion wasn’t so much a troll as fake, but over a century later people still take it seriously even though it contains errors about Judaism that no Jew would make.

Is it overstating to say that AI is on a par with the invention of fire, electricity, flight, or the Internet in its ability to transform our lives?

Similarly, the whole “sovereign citizen” movement (which we call OPCA up here in Canada) was also a joke where someone used a whole lot of pseudo-legal language (that’s the “P” in OPCA) to say you weren’t subject to any laws you didn’t agree to. Not a month goes by without someone believing in this nonsense.