Let's go back to your original argument: "words are data carriers".
What data is being carried? Where is it stored? How does this constitute meaning?
You can't answer these questions without ending up making my argument: data is reality, but it doesn't represent reality until it's negotiated.
Words are lies *exactly* because people think they carry meaning, as you said.
Those lies create facts *exactly* for the same reason: because people believe them and act on them, thus partially creating the reality that was previously fiction.
Btw from this perspective, the distinction between data and information is secondary