Yeah your right, it began to be seeded into the public consciousness around then , but nobody used the exact words "disinformation" and "misinformation" as part of their day to day speech.

My thesis is that the messaging around covid normalised it as part of everyday conversation.

Everyone was saying "fake news" with a Trump voice , it was being normalised , but as a joke.

Now I hear old ladies waiting for the bus using the words "disinformation" and it is extremely bizarre and dystopian and you never would have heard it before the covid messaging.

I would be interested to know if "disinformation" is a part of everyday discourse in Africa like it is now in the west .

The African population is too young for news/conventional media to drive the conversation.

Theses media teams don't know what the kids are even talking about no more.