FAKE NEWS AND ALIENS: MISINFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO SOCIAL STIGMA

Abstract

A recent fake news, published in mid-January 2020, about an extraordinary regularization procedure of foreigners in Spain generated a high degree of disinformation in different social settings. This manipulated image, on behalf of the Interior Ministry, caused the government to be obliged to send an official statement denying the news. However, this information has already been disseminated and consumed and raised questions about this situation: how do fake news affect the formation of the collective imaginary? Do fake news contribute to the stigmatization of certain groups? What perception do we have about foreigner individuals? How did we get to this perception? No doubt, we get there through information. The methodology applied to this study are the descriptive sociological survey and the case study. For this research, a survey was carried out in which, based on a Likert scale, the degree of agreement or disagreement of surveyed with respect to a series of statements that respond to stigmas related to the concept of "foreigner" is determined. In addition, a case study will be done based on the statements measured in the survey to determine the veracity or falsity of these issues. To obtain conclusions, the two results are compared. The discussion of this research is a reflection of how opinion and the collective imagination are related to the social reality of foreigners. The conclusions determine whether or not disinformation in society causes stigmatization of the foreigner by the host society.