Democracies are up in arms about immigration. Yet talk around immigration is so heated, it's hard to be sure what is fact and what is highly emotional fiction.

One need only look abroad to other democracies to see how information overload has enabled factually wrong but emotionally resounding stories about immigration to flourish.

Defending Australia's official political speech from weaponised narratives. Credit:Matthew Davidson

And it's not just about the subject of immigration. Anti-gun protesters in the US have erroneously been dismissed as “crisis actors”. Falsehoods about Brexit motivated voters.

Propagandists now use social media to exploit the human mind’s bias for finding patterns of meaning in events in order to promote incorrect or distorted ideas – all of which can disrupt democracies which rely on factual discussion in order for voters and politicians to make informed decisions.