Disinformation
Explanation
The Joke
A person asks why disinformation spreads so much faster than real information. Another character responds, "This is just basic physics." They explain that information can't travel faster than light — this is a reference to Einstein's equations of special relativity — but since imaginary information isn't constrained by those physical laws, it can travel at any speed. The second character quips that "it's not disinformation, it's an entire disinformation framework."
The Humor
The comic takes a genuine social concern — the rapid spread of disinformation — and gives it a fake physics explanation. The joke hinges on a pun involving the word "imaginary." In physics, if you plug imaginary numbers (involving the square root of -1) into certain equations, you can get results that appear to exceed the speed of light. The comic maps this onto misinformation: since disinformation is "imaginary" (i.e., made up), it isn't bound by the speed-of-light constraint that limits real information.
The final panel escalates the joke by having the character insist this isn't just disinformation but "an entire disinformation framework" — satirizing how pseudoscientific claims often present themselves as complete, rigorous theoretical systems rather than isolated falsehoods.
Broader Context
SMBC frequently blends real physics concepts with absurd social commentary. The joke plays on the genuine physics concept of tachyons — hypothetical faster-than-light particles that would require imaginary mass — and repurposes it as a tongue-in-cheek explanation for why lies spread faster than truth. The comic also touches on a well-documented phenomenon in media studies: falsehoods tend to propagate faster on social media than accurate information.