Key TakeawaysThe FUD acronym stands for **“Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.”** Some say the “D” stands for Disinformation.
You can find examples of this propaganda tactic being used everywhere: crypto, sales, marketing, politics, advertisements, media outlets, cults, and any other place where Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt can be broadcast on a large scale.
The whole point of FUD is to change the viewer’s perception and habits by conjuring up negative emotions and then associating these “bad vibes” with a product, service, company, or even a particular person or political party.
In short, FUD is psychological manipulation based on scare tactics.
When applied, FUD causes potential investors to hesitate and second-guess themselves. This hesitation stems from a lack of information about an asset. Without a complete understanding, potential investors can be easily swayed by basic FUD techniques.
You should learn as much as you can if you want to avoid becoming a FUD victim.
Today, FUD is commonly used in reference to negative comments surrounding the latest technologies, especially cryptocurrency and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). Some of crypto’s extreme volatility has even been linked to viral posts spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the marketplace.
Due to this, many crypto developers and investors work tirelessly to combat FUD by responding to negative posts with “FUD”. This helps others know that the opinion being expressed is nothing more than an attempt to discourage the public from investing in a particular project.
They can also counteract this negativity by promoting and advocating their preferred cryptocurrencies through social media.
When Bitcoin or Crypto investors lack fundamental knowledge and stumble across FUD on forums or social media, they may hesitate before buying. Some end up selling their assets altogether. All of this negative-hype can snowball to the point where prices actually start to plummet.
The good news is you can disprove most suspected posts by yourself by DYOR Doing Your Own Research and seeing for yourself if the negative allegations are Organic FUD or Manufactured FUD.
Organic FUD comes from valid concerns about the integrity of a coin or asset.
Manufactured FUD results from people attempting to manipulate people or markets for their own ulterior motives.
It’s a very beautiful thing when you catch FUD posters and the community blocks, bans, or blacklists them. Not only did they fail at dissuading potential investors, now they’re distrusted by the very audience they were trying so hard to influence.
“Fear, uncertainty, and doubt” first appeared in articles as early as the 1920’s. But, it wasn’t until the 70’s when “FUD” made its way into the world of advertising.
The term was famously used by Gene Amdahl, the founder of Amdahl Corporation, who brought a legal claim against IBM stating:
“FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering Amdahl © products.”
Believe it or not, Microsoft was also a big fan of using FUD schemes in the 1990’s to ruin their competitors’ reputations, namely IBM, Mozilla, and Linux. After this went on for some time, people saw what was going on and Microsoft ended up catching multiple antitrust lawsuits for their anti-competitive practices.
As a general Rule-of-Thumb: Everything carries some inherent risk.
This goes for life as well as investment opportunities.
You can’t completely avoid risk 100% of the time.
Driving carries inherent risk. Taking the stairs can also be risky. Same for stepping into an elevator. Even walking. Oh, and let’s not forget having electricity and plumbing in your home.
Risk is inevitable. Fortunately, you can learn to manage it.
FUD will cause you to see something as having far greater risk than it does in reality. You can conquer the lies and trickery by seeing for yourself if there is any evidence to back up these negative claims.
The lesson here is to develop a complete understanding of what you’re getting into. Only by knowing the risks can you make the best possible decisions.
BuyBitcoinWorldWide writers are subject-matter experts and base their articles on firsthand information, like interviews with experts, white papers or original studies and experience. We also use trusted research and studies from other well-known sources. You can learn more about our editorial guidelines.
