Fake information markers in COVID-19 news

The relevance of the study is due to the interest of modern linguistics in the phenomenon of fake, the need for its comprehensive understanding and description. The aim of the work is to study the spread of fake information in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to create a classification of fake information markers based on the study of I.A. Sternin and  A.M. Shesterina. For the analysis of fakes, the database “Fake News in Social Networks and Media” was created, the material was 252 Internet texts containing false statements about COVID-19 from January 2020 to February 2022. Texts were collected using a continuous sampling method, sources for collecting material served as social networks and media sites. All fragments are divided into six groups by content: “Vaccination” (32 %), “Conspiracy Theories” (20 %), “International News” (18 %), “Panic Reports and Warnings” (14 %), “Pseudo-medical advice” (9 %), “Reports of confirmed cases/deaths” (7 %). In addition, the distribution of fakes in each year is considered. In the above fragments of fakes, the following groups of typical markers of fake information were identified: Formal markers, Content markers, Lexical markers, Pragmatic markers, Information sources, Argumentation. Examples from the database are selected for each marker.