Extremist avantgarde and fake news in time of pandemic

Fake news is not a new social phenomenon. The first of which is traced to the documentation dates back to the Napoleonic period, as an old saying quotes that those who possess information possess power. Its origin is always strategic whether it is used for systematic war purposes or is put into circulation to create more general social disorders. Fake news are always multidimensional and multilayer strategies such as: manipulation; amplification; using specific target and their vulnerabilities; reinforcement of stereotypes and prejudices. In recent years, the fake news and the communication dynamics of which are substantiated have brought attention to the so-called hate speech and the social phenomena related to it, in relation to the type of target considered: there are many types of fake news that depend on the content, whether it is completely fake, manipulated, invented or if it is the context understood in the dual meaning of media frame and media ecosystem that assumes a deceptive trend. What emerged during the pandemic was an intensive use, especially in the first period, of fake news spread through various channels and focused on multiple topics: from the origins of the virus, to institutional faults in the management of pandemics; from the ethnic responsibilities of spreading the virus to possible health remedies. In addition to these technical and methodological issues, fake news produced by various extremist agencies and groups has emphasized that it is a source of attraction for far-right groups, as also from a cultural perspective, close in some cases to conspiracy theories that in what can be called a vicious circle promote the development of fake and manipulated news.