What to do about misinformation is a problem confounding the world, but community organisation Fighting Against Conspiracy Theories Aotearoa says addressing the vulnerability of victims would be a good start.
FACT Aotearoa's Stephen Judd explained to Breakfast people do not become victims of misinformation "through reasoning their way in".
"They got here because of their pre-existing beliefs and their vulnerability, often emotional vulnerability, that lets the bad guys push their buttons.
"So you can't necessarily counter misinformation just directly with new information. It's actually about connecting to people's underlying needs that got them there. They got there through emotional reasons and they're going to leave via emotional reasons," he said.
READ MORE: Wellington protesters' extreme distrust of mainstream media
"We could look at people whose lives have been disrupted by the pandemic itself and our response to the pandemic and whether we've helped them the right way, whether we should help them differently. We can look at the situation they were in even before the pandemic happened."
The issue has come to the fore in the wake of the anti-mandate protest outside Parliament, which came to a violent end after 23 days on Wednesday.
Judd said the consequence of misinformation includes affecting social bonds, social fabric, social cohesion and people's ability to have conversations where there is a common understanding of what is happening in the world.
"If we don't have a common understanding about basic facts, then we can't make compromises, decisions, be together as a society the way that we would like to be."
READ MORE: Violent messages among misinformation at Parliament protest
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday "foreign influence" had been involved in misinformation at the Parliament protest.
"We will be at pains to ensure that it never becomes an excuse for the violent acts that it resulted in."
Misinformation was rife in chats about the protest on platforms including Telegram, Facebook, Twitter and Zello and on signage.
One is the Covid-19 vaccine breaks the Nuremberg code and that Nuremberg 2.0 trials are underway.
The Nuremberg code was a response to medical experimentation Nazi doctors performed in concentration camps during WWII, without consent. The trials for the doctors involved concluded more than 70 years ago.
Disinformation researcher at Te Pūnaha Matatini Sanjana Hattotuwa earlier told 1News the idea Nuremberg trials are currently happening or will happen are a carefully constructed conspiracy.
"There is no evidence these trials are taking place in any manner, shape or form anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world.
"Conspiratorialists are conducting their own trials and mock trials and putting it up on social media to promote and project a frame that these things are taking place, none of which is under any kind of jurisprudence or legal framework that is accepted."
Judd told Breakfast: "This is about people who think that the Government's poisoning the kids and that that's part of the global conspiracy to bring about who knows what? If you believe that, you're going to do bad stuff. That's the problem. It's not about policy debates."
Experts have said more digital regulation is needed, with Kiwis increasing anxious about misinformation online.
Judd said tackling the 'bad guys' behind misinformation was a more difficult task.
"In terms of the bad guys we've got a real problem, if you like, in a free and open society, because there's really sharp limits to what governments can and should do in terms of shaping public opinion and informing the public."
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