Fake News and Disinformation: Phenomenons of Post-Factual Society

The theoretical study deals with fake news, disinformation and hoaxes. These phenomena are a major problem for contemporary society. We call it post-factual society. This expression is explained as falling confidence in objective facts and, on the contrary, increasing confidence in information with an emotional connotation, based on personal belief and conviction. The author in the study discusses the concepts of fake news, misinformation, hoaxes, their types, properties, and analyses several known fake news that appear primarily on the Internet. The author further analyses the current situation and interprets the results of the Media Literacy Index 2018, which deals with the resistance of the countries to the aforementioned negative phenomena. Last, but not least, the author focuses on the possibilities of prevention, education in this field and increasing media literacy. The study presents a theoretical view of the problem that has resonated in recent years in society and requires preventive measures and activities in the field of education and media literacy of the population of countries (not only) of the European Union.