For weeks, the world watched a chilling narrative unfold, one that began with the abrupt silence of two familiar voices. Mali and Liel Yahalomi had vanished from the tapestry of their everyday lives, leaving behind a void that screamed louder than any goodbye. Their home, once filled with the mundane rhythms of domestic life—the clatter of coffee cups, the hum of a television, the shared quiet of a long marriage—now stood as a silent testament to their inexplicable absence. Neighbors noticed the drawn curtains, the accumulating mail, and the uncollected newspapers. The first frantic phone calls from family members escalated…

Think of the last time you saw a headline that made you angry or afraid, and then discovered it was false. The feeling of betrayal, the nagging question of what else might be untrue, the awkwardness of talking to a relative who still believes it—misinformation is not an abstract problem. It affects everyday life: the vaccine decision made in fear, the vote cast in confusion, the scam accepted as official correspondence, the friendship fractured by a conspiracy theory. In the UK and around the world, this pollution of the information environment has become so pervasive that it threatens democracy, public…