Chapter 1

A Short History of Fake Democracy In Three Parts

The phrase "fake news" is inseparable from a political wave that has sometimes been called "rising populism", and is associated with figures such as Donald Trump, Matteo Salvini and Jair Bolsonaro.

The world may now have been freed from Trump himself, but the systems and patterns that brought about his presidency and immense popularity remain with us.

Even if "populism" turns out to be a slippery and unhelpful term by itself, the political moment to which it has come to refer needs to be understood thoroughly, in its proper historical context.

Next chapter: The Disinformation Society