| The phenomenon of fake news began to draw observers’ attention in 2016, during the UK referendum campaign on Brexit and the US presidential election. Has the combination of misleading information and so-called alternative facts tipped us imperceptibly into a new, “post-truth” era of communication? Even if this phenomenon is not totally unprecedented, and serves to remind us that propaganda exists not only in the past or in other countries, it has its own unique aspects. It demonstrates the internet’s ambiguity in encouraging the expression not only of participatory democracy but also of extremism, populism, and conspiricism. It also destroys the illusion that if we increase the volume of information, and the speed at which it is delivered on what was formerly called “the information superhighway,” we will democratize information – and therefore democracy itself. |
