The 5D Model: Decoding the Disinformation Playbook

Most disinformation follows a script. Not a literal one, but a psychological playbook refined over decades and perfected in the digital age. And what is interesting about it is that whether it’s sowing doubt, hijacking public debates, or grinding down trust in institutions, disinformation thrives on patterns. 

One useful framework for decoding those patterns is the 5D Model of Disinformation, developed in 2021 by communication scholars Larissa Doroshenko and Josephine Lukito. The model outlines five core tactics that disinformation actors—state or non-state—routinely use: Dismiss, Distort, Distract, Dismay, and Divide. There are several groupings of the D’s but for the purposes of this post, we picked out the ones that we find have the strongest impact on their audience.

The 5Ds stand for specific psychological levers—ways to shift attention, manipulate perception, and quietly erode public discourse. Recognizing them helps us recognize disinformation, look at it analytically, and by understanding its mechanics be better equipped to counteract. 

Here’s how the 5Ds work:

Dismiss: Attack the Messenger

The first step in many disinformation campaigns is not to disprove a claim—but to discredit the source. If people stop trusting the messenger, the message doesn’t matter.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese state media routinely dismissed international warnings as “rumors” and “hysteria.” Public health concerns were reframed as paranoia. International experts were painted as alarmist or biased. The goal was clear: avoid accountability by undermining credibility. 

Dismissal reframes informed critique as malicious intent. It also has a long tail – it creates an emotional anchor against the experts who critique the false narrative, planting the seed to discredit any future information coming from this type of expert source. It’s not just false—it’s dangerous. And very effective.

Distort: Bend the Facts

Distortion is the art of half-truths. It’s what makes disinformation harder to pin down than outright lies. You take a fragment of reality and stretch it just far enough to change its shape.

A prime example: Russia’s claim that the U.S. operated biological weapons labs in Ukraine. The story was built on a real fact—the existence of U.S.-funded biological research collaborations in the region. From there, it morphed into a story about secret weapons programs and Western aggression. It served a clear purpose: to create a moral pretext for war.

Distortion works because it’s grounded in something vaguely true. It doesn’t demand belief—just enough confusion to muddy the waters.

Distract: Shift the Focus

When cornered, don’t explain—redirect. Distraction is about steering attention away from the uncomfortable and toward the irrelevant.

Consider how Russian state media responded when accused of stalling peace negotiations. Instead of engaging with the facts, the narrative pivoted: “The West is demonizing Putin.” Suddenly, the conversation was no longer about accountability, but about media bias and double standards.

It’s classic misdirection. The audience gets caught in a new argument, and the original issue quietly slips out of view.

Dismay: Create Hopelessness

Not all disinformation tries to convince. Some of it just wants you to give up – and its effect should not be underestimated.

In the early stages of the Syrian civil war, social media feeds were flooded with graphic videos and bleak messaging: bombed hospitals, dying children, entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble. Often accompanied by captions like “No one is coming.”

This wasn’t just a reflection of reality—it was a calculated emotional assault. The goal? Wear down global audiences. Make people feel powerless. Turn outrage into resignation. And, crucially, make apathy seem like the only rational response.

When people believe nothing can be done, they stop asking if anything should be done.

Divide: Turn Us on Each Other

The final tactic is arguably the most corrosive. Division is the long game of disinformation—undermining trust not just in governments or institutions, but in each other.

In the UK before Brexit, the narrative wasn’t just about EU membership—it was about an “invasion” of migrants that would destroy British identity. These weren’t just policy arguments—they were designed to inflame identity and cultural tensions. To pit citizens against one another. To make compromise look like betrayal.

Divide-and-conquer is a very old strategy, but in a hyperconnected world, it’s been supercharged. Every wedge issue becomes a battlefield. And the more fragmented the public sphere becomes, the easier it is to manipulate.

Why This Matters Now

The 5D Model is a simple yet effective diagnostic tool for our information environment. These tactics work because they exploit fundamental aspects of human psychology: our tendency to trust familiar sources, our cognitive shortcuts under information overload, our tribal instincts.

What makes today’s disinformation particularly insidious is its sophistication. We’re not dealing with crude propaganda posters anymore. Modern disinformation operations employ teams of psychologists, data scientists, and communications experts who understand exactly which buttons to press.

Building Resilience – But How?

Recognizing these patterns is the first line of defense, but it’s not enough. Real resistance requires what researchers call “societal resilience”—the collective ability to maintain democratic discourse even when information itself becomes a weapon.

This means media literacy that goes beyond fact-checking to include understanding manipulation techniques. It means building institutions that can respond rapidly to disinformation campaigns. Most importantly, it means fostering a civic culture that values truth over comfort, complexity over simplicity.

The 5D Model is not a silver bullet—but it is a useful map. It helps us move beyond the headlines and into the mechanics of manipulation. Whether you’re a journalist, policymaker, civil society actor, or just trying to stay sane online, these five tactics are worth remembering.

Because if we can see how disinformation works, we can start to push back—with clarity, with confidence, and most importantly, with context.