From Dezinformatsiya to Disinformation - A Critical Analysis of Strategies and Effect on the Digital Public Sphere

The book takes a critical look at the phenomenon of disinformation by identifying the historical, technological and human elements that contribute to the current success of disinformation strategies. The author examines the origin of the word 'Dezinformatsiya', used by Russian planners in the 1950s, to understand how military strategy has transformed into militarization of information. The book pays particular attention to the power of algorithmic platforms on the selection and dissemination of digital content and their role in the spread of misinformation. This influences traditional editorial practices, disintermediating the production and distribution of news and amplifying a particular human cognitive mechanism: confirmation bias. The author investigates the Italian case to identify general archetypes, and typical and salient elements of disinformation strategies. The results offer a further interpretative aspect to studying disinformation, which represents a fracture in the digital public sphere, a kind of irrational object circulating in a space believed to be governed by rational engagement norms. The book conclusively shows how polarizing narratives used in disinformation strategies are the expression of complex ideological undergrowth embodied in extremes of the political spectrum.
This highly topical book is for students and researchers from across the social sciences and media interested in the disinformation phenomenon.




Suania Acampa is currently a postdoctoral researcher at The Southern Centre for Digital Transformation, Department of Social Sciences, University of Naples Federico II. Previously, she was a research fellow at the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, where she worked on public engagement. She has a PhD in Statistics and Social Sciences from the University of Naples Federico II, but she furthered her studies at University of Essex, University of Amsterdam and at National Research University Higher School of Economics of Moscow.  She was visiting researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Sociología Aplicada. Furthermore, she is also a researcher of the Federico II's 'F.A.S.T Observatory - Future, Algorithms, Society and Technologies' in research line relating to the narratives'reconstruction on digitalization and automation. In 2019, she won the first place in Youth Section of Italian Authority for Communications Guarantees''Premio Preto', thanks to her scientific work and her curricular profile. In 2023, she won the Italian 'Polis Premio Giovani' thanks to a study on disinformation and populism, of which she is co-author. Her research interests include Digital Sociology, Digital and Statistical-computational Methods to Communication and Information Analysis in digital environments and Critical Algorithm Studies.