Az online dezinformáció és hatásai
Online Disinformation and its Effects

Describing the Emergence of Disinformation Narrative Networks Through the Relationship Between Scientific Disinformation and State-Denying Conspiracy Theories

Summary/Abstract: The online information, communication and media environment raises new questions about the (new) phenomena of fake news, disinformation, deception and manipulation. Based on approaches taken from the literature, this study conceptualizes the phenomenon of disinformation networks on online platforms through the interconnection of science disinformation and state-denying conspiracy theories during the coronavirus epidemic. Conspiracy theories, political fake news, medical and health misinformation as well as science disinformation, were dominant in the infodemic that accompanied the complex communication of the coronavirus epidemic. The epidemic was also embedded in extremist narratives, and the actors of science disinformation may have become disseminators of these narratives. The extreme anti-government and state-denying conspiracy theories of the sovereign citizens movement were prevalent in several countries during the epidemic. In Hungary, actors of science disinformation also incorporated narratives of the movement into their communication. To explain this, the study concludes by introducing the concept of conspirituality, which describes the interconnectedness of the logic of New Age spirituality, wellness culture, pseudo-scientific health beliefs and conspiracy theories. The aim of the study is to present that one conceptualization framework for the definition, operation and impact of the phenomena of online deception and manipulation can be the analysis of interactive disinformation networks.

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