Disinformation is not a new problem. This was General Sherman’s solution.

General Sherman waged what might be considered the first campaign against disinformation in American history. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” was a policy of directed severity against Georgians, who had been badly lied to by pro-Confederate newspapers with their false claims that the Confederacy was winning the war. Unable to protect Georgia from the ravages of Sherman’s army, the Confederacy’s credibility was fatally eroded among Georgian citizens.