LEGAL STATUS OF FAKE NEWS: GLOBAL CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Resumo

Objective: This article dwells on the legal status of "fake news", global challenges, and measures to combat inaccurate information. The current spread of digital disinformation on the Internet destabilizes all social spheres. As a rule, inaccurate information is spread deliberately and the international community has not developed effective methods to fight against fake news on the Internet. The study considers the phenomenon of "fake news", defines this concept, reveals its main features and characteristics. Methods: In the course of the research, the authors used the methods of collecting and studying single facts; generalization; scientific abstraction; the cognition of laws, as well as the methods of objectivity, specificity, and pluralism. Results: The study has concluded that fake news is deliberately false information that infringes on the rights and interests of individuals, society, and state, aimed at ensuring the interests of certain individuals, groups, and parties, and entailing negative consequences. Depending on the degree of public danger, the guilty person should be liable for disseminating inaccurate information. Conclusion: The paper proposes a classification according to the purposes of information dissemination: pursuing political advantages; influencing the economic situation and the market as a whole; increasing traffic; fraud; discrimination; spreading malware; entertainment; drawing attention to certain persons or social movements and parties.