Efforts to combat misinformation have intensified in recent years. In parallel, our scientific understanding of misinformation and of our information ecosystem has improved. Yet, many interventions against misinformation have failed to properly consider and adapt to this growing body of knowledge. First, because misinformation consumption is low in western democracies, interventions against misinformation are bound to have minimal effects outside of experimental settings, especially compared to interventions aimed at increasing the acceptance of reliable information. Second, because people tend to distrust unreliable sources but fail to sufficiently trust reliable sources, there is much more room to improve trust in reliable sources than to reduce trust in unreliable sources. Third, because misinformation is largely a symptom of deeper socio-political problems, most interventions are doomed to play a game of ‘whack-a- mole’, and should instead try to address root causes, such as by reducing partisan animosity. Fourth, because a small number of powerful individuals give misinformation most of its visibility, interventions targeting laypeople will have small effects compared to interventions targeting these powerful individuals. Fifth, because false information is not necessarily harmful and true information can be used in misleading ways, defining misinformation in terms of misleadingness instead of veracity could help interventions have a stronger societal impact. Policymakers, journalists, and researchers would benefit from taking these facts into account when designing solutions against misinformation.