NATO StratCom (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence) defines information laundering as, "a stratagem used by hostile actors within an information influence campaign. In this process, false or deceitful information is legitimised through a network of intermediaries that gradually apply a set of techniques to distort it and obscure the original source". Through this tactic, false or misleading information can appear legitimate on the surface, since it seems to be coming from a variety of sources.
Information laundering is perhaps the most alarming form of how false information spreads, because it is not always easy to debunk through only a quick Internet search. It requires time to examine the true mission and funding streams of each source where the story or post in question came from and where it was recirculated.
In his article, "Slipping Racism into the Mainstream: A Theory of Information Laundering," Professor Adam Klein writes, "In cyberspace, the pathways to false knowledge and propaganda are the same as those that lead to legitimate and credible resources." This is to say that search engines, social networks, and political blogs can be used to make ideas or narratives that were on the fringe of society now part of the mainstream. Before the rise of the Internet, a public library or reputable news outlet would not give a voice to this kind of content, but in cyberspace the information landscape is different. Just like money laundering, information laundering cloaks the original source and makes a false claim or conspiracy theory look legitimate once it appears on a variety of platforms, especially more mainstream ones. In turn, these false claims and conspiracy theories eventually seep into the public discourse.
Sometimes these stories also appear on sites with a similar name to a well-known news outlet, but in fact have a different domain or URL spelling errors. According to Forbes.com, this practice is known as "typosquatting". For example, Internet users will be led to a website with fake stories that is spelled Forbs.it instead of Forbes.com.
