Forwarded As Received: How Misinformation Turns Viral, Violent And True

Misinformation has never felt truer than it does today. Claims that once invited examination and debate now float freely and settle into everyday conversation as facts. Repetition lends them authority; famil-iarity gives them legitimacy. In this quiet transformation, falsehood does not announce itself. It embeds, circulates, and endures. This book examines how the seemingly harmless habit of forwarding messages has evolved into a powerful engine of distortion. What be-gins as an everyday digital reflex accumulates into an ecosystem where half-truths and manipulated narratives thrive, reshaping perception, deepening inequality, and normalising suspicion. Deeply original, rigorously researched, and profoundly grounded in the realities of the Global South, Forwarded as Received is a compel-ling examination of our evolving information order—and of the life-altering choices we make, often unknowingly, with every forward.