The great irony of misinformation is that the vast majority of it is actually about selling stuff, from weird dietary supplements to other shady products. The overwhelming proportion of bad information, especially online, including political misinformation, is about commercialisation. Consider Alex Jones, a prominent right-wing conspiracy theorist who propounded that even the Sandy Hook shooting was a false flag, for which he was sued. A huge majority of such misinformation-spreading is based on the business of selling products — here, politics and outrage are also used to attract people to merchandise, says Matthew Baum.
