[Commlist] New Book "Social Media and the Post-Truth World Order" (Palgrave Macmillan 2020)

New Book "Social Media and the Post-Truth World Order" (Palgrave 
Macmillan 2020)


This book discusses post-truth not merely as a Western issue, but as a 
problematic political and cultural condition with global ramifications. 
By locating the roots of the phenomenon in the trust crisis suffered by 
liberal democracy and its institutions, the book argues that post-truth 
serves as a space for ideological conflicts and geopolitical power 
struggles that are reshaping the world order.

The era of post-truth politics is thus here to stay, and its reach is 
increasingly global: Russian trolls organizing events on social media 
attended by thousands of unaware American citizens; Turkish 
pro-government activists amplifying on Twitter conspiracy theories 
concocted via Internet imageboards by online subcultures in the United 
States; American and European social media users spreading fictional 
political narratives in support of the Syrian regime; and Facebook 
offering a platform for a harassment campaign by Buddhist 
ultra-nationalists in Myanmar that led to the killing of thousands of 
Muslims.

These are just some of the examples that demonstrate the dangerous 
effects of the Internet-driven global diffusion of disinformation and 
misinformation. Grounded on a theoretical framework yet written in an 
engaging and accessible way, this timely book is a valuable resource for 
students, researchers, policymakers and citizens concerned with the 
impact of social media on politics.


Endorsements:

“If the post-truth order is primarily marked by a generalized loss of 
trust in traditional sources of authority and information as well as a 
growing fragmentation of the media sphere, this book convincingly argues 
that the truth of the post-truth condition is not to be found in the 
details but within a global discursive space where state and non-state 
actors, established powers and emerging political networks, build 
surprising alliances to hegemonize the public sphere and upend the 
post-1989 world order.”
—*Marco Deseriis*, Assistant Professor, Scuola Normale Superiore 
Florence, Italy

“Finally, we have a theory of post-truth that emerges from an 
international or global analysis. In this excellent development of 
empirically-grounded post-truth theory, Cosentino moves from well-known 
cases such as Pizzagate and Russian trolls in the U.S. 2016 presidential 
election, to cases that have received little to no attention in media 
and political communication studies, such as the "White Helmets" rumors 
amplified by Russian media in the Syrian civil war, the Facebook hate 
speech campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, and the 
disinformation apparatus that propelled Bolsonaro to power in Brazil. 
Cosentino’s analysis is also unique in its attention to the use of an 
array of platforms and spaces of media that are exploited for 
disinformative and misinformative purposes, including 4chan and 8chan, 
Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, in addition to traditional news media. His 
work engages with the problems of international political economy in the 
post-truth matrix, especially how the agents of post-truth exploit the 
weaknesses of media laws. Finally, he does not shy away from drawing 
lessons from his case studies for technical, educational, regulatory and 
political intervention. /Social Media and the Post-Truth World Order/ is 
a welcome contribution to a growing body of theory and empirical 
analysis in post-truth studies.”
—*Jayson Harsin*, Associate Professor and Chair, Global Communications 
Department, The American University of Paris, France

“In this book, Gabriele Cosentino masterfully addresses perhaps the 
greatest lacuna in post-truth studies by demonstrating its global 
nature. By dedicating a substantial portion of the text to cases beyond 
the West, he manages to not only broaden our geographical scope of 
understanding post-truth but also to tease out the latter’s 
preconditions and characteristics that remain constant across national, 
political, and cultural contexts and can, therefore, be seen as the 
phenomenon's core traits. Ultimately, this timely book demonstrates that 
post-truth is not some isolated manifestation of fakery, but a 
collective domain that spans the world as an alternative self-sustaining 
universe. The result is a must-read book that lays bare the emergent 
post-truth world order.”
—*Ignas Kalpokas*, Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Communication, 
Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania


Table of content:

• 1) The Post-truth World Order

• 2) Polarize and Conquer: Russian Influence Operations in the United States

• 3) From Pizzagate to the Great Replacement: The Globalization of 
Conspiracy Theories

• 4) Post-truth Politics in Syria: ‘Rumor Bombs’ on the White Helmets

• 5) Tribal Politics: The Disruptive Effects of Social Media in the 
Global South

• 6) Conclusions: What Does a Post-truth World Look Like

https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030430047#aboutBook







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