ABSTRACT

Conspiracy theories can be considered as ‘slow streams’ flowing in a shadow zone of human communication, as developers and believers process and co-produce ‘evidence’ and recruit/cultivate those who come along conspiratorial scripture occasionally. The concept of ‘fake news’, along with a more eloquent term describing the same subject, emerged within the political and academic debate alongside the US presidential campaign in 2016. ‘Fake news’ surfaced as a research subject before 2016. Among other cases, it played a central role in regards to the information conflict and disinformation campaigns/influence operations preceding and during the actual annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the occupation and insurgency in Eastern Ukraine. ‘Fake news’ on the contrary, are tools – created and fabricated to be an instrumental part of political warfare or commercial scam that masquerades as political or pseudo-scientific or even entertainment media agenda.