Special Issue on Disinformation, Hoaxes and Propaganda within Online Social Networks and Media

It is our great pleasure to present the Special Issue on Disinformation, Hoaxes and Propaganda of the Online Social Networks and Media (OSNEM) journal. This special issue lies on the key aspect that Online Social Networks and Media are optimized for posting and sharing catchy and sensationalist news. Problematic messages may span biased information aiming to influence communities and agendas with deliberate lies meant to mislead users. We thus asked the scientific community to present their results on the analysis of hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation fabrication and spread on social media, as well as automatic techniques, that could be embedded in OSNEM platforms, to block/prevent their diffusion, and countermeasures to dissuade people to believe/diffuse them. We received 18 submissions and accepted 6 for publication. The result is an exciting mix of hot research topics in this challenging and fascinating area.