A bit of a sidetrack but I’m not so sure. The people who originate those memes are absolutely liars (and that’s the least of their moral failings) but your average meme spreader does not I think realize what they are posting is untrue. Even if there are countless refutations of the obvious falsehood in their eyes those are the misinformation.
You could accuse them of being willfully uninformed but not of lying IMO
That earns the “distinction without a difference” award.
Do you have any particular "they"s in mind?
There is also the gray area of “Denial” or lying to oneself. The person who has had 3 DWI’s and can’t get through the day without a few drinks, but says they don’t have a drinking problem. They have been presented clear evidence, and may at some deep level realize the truth, but their psychological defense mechanisms prevent them from accepting it. I wouldn’t exactly say that they are lying.
I think a lot of Trumpists may fall into this category.
I suppose I’d go back to ask why the “iIs [whatever] a lie” distinction is important?
To me your exemplar drunk or trumpist is exactly as morally culpable as someone who totally admits to themselves that they’re an alcoholic or who is certain that the propaganda they are confidently spewing is 100% false. But they say what they do for lulz, or defense or whatever.
If someone lies for quite a while, then finally tries to excuse the lie by saying “well, I was mislead, so that is water under the bridge”, I would like to see further details.
So what would you call flat-earthers?
From day one they should have been dealt with thusly: “There is no difference of opinion here, since all the evidence points to the fact that the earth is not flat. You are either an idiot or a liar, but in either case I’m not wasting anymore time here. Goodbye.”
So the alcoholic case is a lot more complicated and uncertain. But this i disagree with. The person who deliberately spreads misinformation to help destroy our democracy is definitely more morally culpable than the Maga idiot who believes the bs and shares it on Facebook. Neither are completely blameless but the former is far more at fault.
Anyone repeating the same nonsense over and over knowing it’s false, including flat earthers, is lying.
Consequences of being a tiny minority arguing for a flat earth are, of course, nil, unless people are being injured and killed due to their beliefs, which would be news to me.