Fact-checking in war: Types of hoaxes and trends from a year of disinformation in the Russo-Ukrainian war

Abstract

This study explores the verification of the contents related to the coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian war during the first year of the conflict. We address the analysis of false information collected from the EDMO database by the Spanish fact-checking organizations: AFP Factual and Comprovem, EFE Verifica, RTVE Verifica, Maldita.es, Newtral and Verificat. Based on the results obtained, a typology has been established to identify the style, format and content of the misinformation under study. In this way, we follow the main trends in the manipulation dynamics that shaped the media coverage of the latest war in European territory. In total, up to 307 verifications by verifiers working in the Spanish context are analyzed. Unlike the hoaxes related to the origin of the coronavirus, in which the preferred format was the text message, in the invasion of Ukraine visual evidence has prevailed in the media coverage of the conflict during the initial phase of the conflict. We will see which are the social networks in which the greatest traffic and viralization of false news is detected, exposing users to manipulative content to a greater extent. Likewise, the potential implementation of a transnational network to combat disinformation in war contexts will be assessed. We will pay special attention to the important role of Spanish fact-checkers both at the European level and in identifying false information, avoiding its dissemination in Latin America. And, finally, we will detect the new challenges that war fact-checking faces, as a result of the evolution of falsification strategies in the construction of the collective narrative about the Russo-Ukrainian war in the post-truth era.