Democracy and Fake News: Information Manipulation and Post-Truth Politics

by Serena Giusti (Editor), Elisa Piras (Editor)

Overview

This book explores the challenges that disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics pose to democracy from a multidisciplinary perspective. The authors analyse and interpret how the use of technology and social media as well as the emergence of new political narratives has been progressively changing the information landscape, undermining some of the pillars of democracy.

The volume sheds light on some topical questions connected to fake news, thereby contributing to a fuller understanding of its impact on democracy. In the Introduction, the editors offer some orientating definitions of post-truth politics, building a theoretical framework where various different aspects of fake news can be understood. The book is then divided into three parts: Part I helps to contextualise the phenomena investigated, offering definitions and discussing key concepts as well as aspects linked to the manipulation of information systems, especially considering its reverberation on democracy. Part II considers the phenomena of disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics in the context of Russia, which emerges as a laboratory where the phases of creation and diffusion of fake news can be broken down and analysed; consequently, Part II also reflects on the ways to counteract disinformation and fake news. Part III moves from case studies in Western and Central Europe to reflect on the methodological difficulty of investigating disinformation, as well as tackling the very delicate question of detection, combat, and prevention of fake news.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, law, political philosophy, journalism, media studies, and computer science, since it provides a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of post-truth politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367479541
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/30/2020
Series:	Politics, Media and Political Communication
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Serena Giusti is Head of the Programme on Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy, and Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Institute for International Studies (ISPI) in Milan, Italy. She also sits on the Advisory board of Women in International Security (WIIS), Italy.

Elisa Piras is Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Philosophy at Dirpolis Institute at Sant’Anna School for Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy. Her research focuses on contemporary political liberalism and its international implications for global justice and for democratic foreign policy.

Table of Contents

List of figures viii

List of tables ix

Notes on contributors x

Preface xiii

Introduction: In search of paradigms: Disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics Serena Giusti Elisa Piras 1

Part I Post-truth politics and the challenges to democracy 17

1 Reading Arendt to rethink truth, science, and politics in the era of fake news Federica Merenda 19

2 Inequality in the public sphere: Epistemic injustice, discrimination, and violence Elisa Piras 30

3 Incorporating intersectionality into AI ethics Liza Ireni-Saban Maya Sherman 40

4 How post-truth politics transformed and shaped the outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum Jennifer Cassidy 53

5 Information and democracy: Fake news as an emotional weapon Matthew Loveless 64

6 Searching for a unicorn: Fake news and electoral behaviour Luigi Curini Eugenio Pizzimenti 77

7 Once upon Covid-19: A tale of misleading information going viral Alice Hazelton 92

Part II From disinformation to post-truth Politics: Evidences from Russia 105

8 Lie to live: The production of a faked reality as an existential function of Putin's regime Anna Zafesova 107

9 Playing the Russian disinformation game: Information operations from Soviet tactics to Putin's sharp power Francesco Bechis 119

10 Myths and realities of Putinism in post-truth politics Mara Morini 132

11 Responding to alleged Russian interference by focussing on the vulnerabilities that make it possible Giorgio Comai 143

Part III Dilemmas of contrasting disinformation and fake news 155

12 Information spreading and the role of automated accounts on Twitter: Two case studies Guido Caldarelli Rocco De Nicola Marinella Petrocchi Fabio Saracco 157

13 Radical-right political activism on the web and the challenge for European democracy: A perspective from Eastern and Central Europe Manuela Caiani Pál Susánszky 173

14 When a credible source turns 'fake': The Relotius affair and the German system for combating fake news Mihail Stojanoski 188

15 "But verifying facts is what we do!": Fact-checking and journalistic professional autonomy Urban Larssen 199

16 The EU Code of Practice on Disinformation and the risk of the privatisation of censorship Matteo Monti 214

Index 226