In search of paradigms: disinformation, fake news and post-truth politics

This book aims to contribute to the debate on how the manipulation of information, under different guises, can deteriorate the status of democracy. The title conveys the ambition and scope of our volume, which seeks to examine and problematise the diffusion of practices of information manipulation thanks to the opportunities provided by the technological tools and social media platforms, which are a particularly fertile breeding ground for amplifying any message. The consequence is the viral diffusion of a plethora of mystified products. Some of them – namely news propaganda, conspiracy theories, censoring and editing history, opinion pieces, pseudo-satire, etc. – are already part of the historical heritage of information manipulation, while others – such as hate speeches, fake news and deepfakes – are a novelty that stems directly from the recent surge in technological advancement and widespread use of social media.