This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of research into discourses of disinformation, misinformation, post-truth, alternative facts, hate speech, conspiracy theories, and 'fake news'. An essential guide for students and researchers of English language studies, linguistics, media and communication studies.

Stefania M. Maci is Full Professor of English Language at the University of Bergamo, where she is the coordinator of the MA in Digital Humanities and Director of the Research Centre on Specialised Language. Her research is focussed on the study of the English language in academic and professional contexts.

Massimiliano Demata is Associate Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Turin. He has published monographs, papers, and book chapters on British and US political discourse, nationalism and discourse, populism, computer-mediated communication, and climate change refugees.

Mark McGlashan is Senior Lecturer in English Language at the Birmingham Institute of Media and English, Birmingham City University. Mark's research interests predominantly centre on the synthesis and application of methods from corpus linguistics and (critical) discourse studies to study a wide range of social issues, and his recent work has focussed on relationships between language and abuse. Mark is co-editor (with Professor John Mercer) of Toxic Masculinity: Men, Meaning and Digital Media (Routledge, 2023).

Philip Seargeant is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the Open University, where he teaches and researches language and communication with a political focus on political discourse. His recent books include The Art of Political Storytelling, Political Activism in the Linguistic Landscape, and Crisis Leadership: Boris Johnson and Political Persuasion during the Covid Pandemic.

1. The Various Dimensions of Disinformation: An Introduction

Part I: Genres and methodologies

2. The Expression of Bias in (Online) Newspaper Headlines

3. Critical Discourse Analysis Approaches to Investigating Fake News and Disinformation

4. Introducing Digital Source Criticism: A Method for Tackling Fake News and Disinformation

5. A Model for Understanding and Assessing Semi-Fake Scientific News Reporting

6. Misinformation Detection in News Text: Automatic Methods and Data Limitations

7. Fakespeak in 280 Characters: Exploring the Language of Disinformation on Twitter through a Comparative Corpus-based Approach

8. Debunking Fake News through the Multimodal Composition of Internet Memes

9. "It's never about #ProLife, it's about punishment, hate, and religious repression." Polarising Discourses and Disinformation in the Abortion Debate on Twitter

10. Investigating the Language of Fake News across Cultures

Part II: Case studies

A. Politics

11. Disinformation and Immigration Discourses

12. Brexit and Disinformation

13. New Dogs, Old Tricks. A Corpus-Assisted Study of the 'Art' of Delegitimisation in Modern Spoken Political Discourse

14. The Military's Approach to the Information Environment

15. Attitudes about Propaganda and Disinformation: Identifying Discursive Personae in YouTube Comment Sections

16. Citizens' Perspectives on the News Media and Democracy: a Citizens' Panel Case Study from Wales

B. Society

17. (Dis)information and Ethical Guidelines: A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Reporting on Violence against Women

18. Online Gendered and Sexualised Disinformation against Women in Politics

19. The Rainbow Conspiracy: A Corpus-Based Social Media Analysis of Anti-LGBTIQ+ Rhetoric in Digital Landscapes

20. The Discourses of Climate Change Denialism across Conspiracy and Pseudoscience Websites

21. Reframing of Fake in Art Discourse

C. Medical discourses

22. Exploring Health-related Misinformation, Disinformation and "Fake News"

23. The COVID-19 Infodemic on Twitter: Dialogic Contraction within the Echo Chambers

24. COVID-19 Parody Fake Voice Messages on WhatsApp

25. The Impact of Covid-19 Reports on Multicultural Young People's Social and Psychological Well-Being: Novel Experiential Metaphors in an ELF-Mediated Debate on Fake News

26. Mapping Polylogical Discourse to Understand (Dis)Information Negotiation: The Case of the UK Events Research Programme

Index