Information Laundering

Also Known As: Source Laundering Citogenesis

Discourse Mechanics ID: information_laundering

Definition

The process of passing information through a chain of intermediaries to obscure its original source and give it the credibility of the final publisher or speaker. Similar to money laundering, it cleans the 'provenance' of information to make it appear more trustworthy.

Examples

A government plants a story in a foreign newspaper, which is then cited by domestic media as an independent foreign source.

A political campaign leaks opposition research to an anonymous blog, which is then cited by a mid-tier news outlet as a 'blog report,' which is finally referenced by a major newspaper as 'media reports suggest' — completely obscuring the campaign as the original source.

A corporation pays a PR firm, which hires a freelance writer, who publishes a favorable industry study in an open-access journal, which a trade magazine then covers as independent academic research validating the corporation's product.

Verification Steps

Verification Steps

Binary yes/no questions that an AI must answer to detect a reasoning pattern in a text.

Each of the 452 aspects has verification steps — simple yes/no questions designed to systematically detect whether a pattern appears in a text. For ad hominem: "Does the argument attack a person rather than their claim?" For false dichotomy: "Are only two options presented when more exist?" This ensures consistent, reproducible analysis.

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Binary (yes/no) questions an LLM must answer to identify this aspect:

1

Is information being passed through intermediaries to obscure its original source?
Type: binary
2

Does the information gain credibility by being associated with a more trusted intermediary?
Type: binary
3

Would the information be less credible if its true origin were known?
Type: binary

Description

Why It Works

Source credibility is a major factor in whether people believe information. By laundering information through trusted intermediaries, the original dubious source is hidden.