I. Introduction

The internet facilitates information flow, while digital technologies are integrated into various fields, bringing both opportunities and challenges. Information disorder has become a prominent challenge. Since 2016, the issue of information disorder in the United States has become increasingly evident, with examples such as misinformation during elections and pandemic-related conspiracy theories affecting the political landscape and sparking competition for dominance in the digital space between China and the U.S. Information disorder reshapes ways of thinking, exacerbates national vulnerabilities, and has become a focal point of research as well as a crucial entry point for national security.

II. The Connotation of Information Disorder

This section delves into the connotation of information disorder in the United States in the digital era. With the development of digital technologies, news media have undergone digital transformation, altering news consumption and dissemination patterns. Concurrently, black swan events occur frequently, and social issues have become more prominent, such as the phenomenon of "fake news." The definition of fake news is ambiguous and controversial, but it can be understood from two dimensions: genre and labeling. It has been politicized and weaponized as a tool for attack. To more accurately describe the chaotic information ecology in the digital space, the concept of "information disorder" has been introduced, referring to the distortion of information and the disruption of the ecology in the digital era. A report by the European Commission categorizes information disorder into three types: misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, with disinformation being the most concerning. Its history can be traced back to the Soviet era, but the digital age has changed its creation, dissemination, and impact, necessitating a reevaluation.

III. Manifestations of Information Disorder

This section thoroughly analyzes four major manifestations of information disorder in the United States in the digital era. First, information production has become diversified. The widespread adoption of digital technologies has made information production and dissemination more accessible. The vast internet user base and social media platforms in the U.S. have become primary sources of information production. Advances in artificial intelligence have further lowered the barrier to information production, leading to a proliferation of unverified information online. Second, information content has become instrumentalized. Information is used as a tool for political, economic, and other interests. Political actors utilize social media and data mining technologies for targeted information dissemination, making disinformation campaigns more frequent and complex. Third, information consumption has become compartmentalized. People select information sources based on political preferences, while media outlets tailor content to audience biases, intensifying the "information cocoon" effect and deepening cognitive gaps between different groups. Finally, information interpretation has become emotionalized. The flood of information drives media to focus on negative and conflict-driven content. The public, when interpreting information, is easily influenced by emotions, blurring the line between objective facts and personal beliefs. The "post-truth" effect is amplified, leading to social and public opinion fragmentation.

IV. Multiple Risks to U.S. Politics Under Information Disorder

This section explores the multiple risks that information disorder in the digital era poses to U.S. politics. First, there is a deepening crisis of public trust in mass media. Since 2003, public trust in the media has remained low, reaching a historic low in 2016. Data from 2024 shows that only 31% of Americans have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of trust in the media, while 36% have "none at all." This trust crisis stems from media partisanship and inaccurate reporting. During Trump's presidency, frequent accusations of media producing "fake news" further eroded media credibility and accountability, deepening the "representative rupture" between the media and the public and posing a challenge to democratic politics.

Second, the legitimacy of Western-style democratic elections is being questioned. While the popularity of social media appears to expand public political participation, it has, in fact, become a breeding ground for distorted information and extreme rhetoric. The "filter bubble" phenomenon and "echo chamber" effects generated by intelligent algorithms result in more homogenized information for the public, weakening their capacity for political debate. Political candidates exploit social media to manipulate voters, undermining the ecosystem of political participation and shaking the legitimate foundations of electoral politics. For instance, the storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021 highlighted some right-wing factions' questioning of the legitimacy of democratic elections.

Third, anti-intellectualism is rampant in American society, coinciding with declining public trust in mainstream media and government institutions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. recorded the highest cumulative number of confirmed cases and deaths, partly due to Trump's anti-intellectual stance. The proliferation of digital information technologies has exacerbated public skepticism toward experts and science. Unverified or false information on social media is easily accepted by the public, and anti-intellectualism has become a way to express political identity and resist the elite. This trend is mutually reinforcing with anti-intellectual strategies employed by politicians and commercial companies, threatening the effective functioning of representative democracy in American society.

Finally, political polarization in the United States is intensifying. Information disorder amplifies partisan inclinations in the digital space. Right-wing media and personalized recommendation algorithms exhibit biases in information dissemination, making right-wing groups more susceptible to harmful and distorted information, thereby bolstering right-wing forces and exacerbating political polarization. Simultaneously, information disorder drives U.S. politics toward "affective polarization," with emotional animosity accumulating between different partisan groups. This affective polarization and information disorder create a structural resonance, jointly constructing a highly insular, emotional, and confrontational political information ecosystem that poses a profound structural risk to American democratic governance.

V. Conclusion

This section points out that information disorder in the digital era poses multi-faceted risks to the United States. The U.S. government has adopted various measures to address these challenges, such as legislation during the Obama administration and Biden's cybersecurity strategy. It also highlights nationwide efforts at the state level to regulate the use of election-related technologies and intelligence community initiatives to safeguard information security. Furthermore, it notes that fundamentally resolving the issue of information disorder requires addressing the contradictions between digital technology and various aspects of society and tackling social inequality. Additionally, information disorder is a global challenge. With the rise of Asia in the fields of social media and artificial intelligence, China needs to take corresponding measures both domestically and internationally to address the challenges posed by information disorder.